Gary Anderson begins World Darts Championship defence in style
Friday 18 December 2015 10:40, UK
Reigning champion Gary Anderson got his title defence off to the perfect start with a 3-0 win over Andy Boulton on the opening night of World Darts Championship.
In front of a packed crowd at the Alexandra Palace in London, the Scottish thrower calmed any questions of nerves on his return to the scene of his finest victory by throwing a maximum with his first three darts.
Those opening darts set the tone for the rest of the match as Anderson stormed away with two 11-darters and seven consecutive legs against the preliminary qualifier.
Boulton had booked his berth with Anderson by earlier winning a three-set qualifier against Per Laursen.
But the Stoke-born Boulton was stopped in his tracks on his second appearance on the oche, as Anderson averaged 99.55 and hit 16 ton-plus scores in a faultless performance.
Anderson will next play Daryl Gurney after the Northern Irish player secured his spot in the second round with an impressive 3-1 victory over Jamie Lewis.
Gurney, who averaged 94.12 for the match and hit five maximums, raced away with the first set before Lewis pegged one straight back. But from then on the board was Gurney's and he punished Lewis' inconsistent scoring by taking the next two sets and the match.
A classy performance from Peter 'Snakebite' Wright secured the eccentric thrower a 3-0 victory over former world youth champion Keegan Brown.
Wright, who was wearing a festive outfit including a beard styled as a Christmas tree, hit two ton-plus finishes and averaged 95.91 in the stress-free win.
Brown, who knocked out former world champion John Part in the first round of last year's competition, didn't have an opportunity at a double until the second set and only managed to win two legs as he struggled to work his way around the board.
Wright will now play either Dean Winstanley or Ronny Huybrechts in the second round after Christmas.
World Darts Championship, night one results:
Andy Boulton 2-1 Per Laursen (preliminary match)
Daryl Gurney 3-1 Jamie Lewis
Peter Wright 3-0 Keegan Brown
Gary Anderson 3-0 Andy Boulton
The World Darts Championship continues on Friday from 1pm live on Sky Sports Darts with world No 1 Michael van Gerwen in action. You can also follow the action on skysports.com as well as Sky Sports' mobile and iPad apps.
You can watch the PDC World Darts Championship live on Sky Sports between December 17-January 3.
Non-subscribers can also enjoy daily, weekly or monthly access to Sky Sports Darts and Sky Sports other six channels contract-free with NOW TV.
