John Walton marked his return to the BDO World Darts Championship with comfortable win
Monday 4 January 2016 22:54, UK
Former winner John Walton made a successful return to the BDO World Darts Championship, but third seed Jeffrey de Graaf crashed out at the Lakeside.
'John Boy', who defeated Ted Hankey in the 2001 final, ended a three-year absence from the tournament with a 3-0 preliminary round win over Rob Modra.
Walton dropped only three legs against the Australian and will next face 15th seed Brian Dawson in the last 32.
But De Graaf fell in the first round for the fourth year running after a tense 3-2 defeat to fellow Dutchman Richard Veenstra.
Veenstra missed three match darts in the fourth set, but eventually closed out victory in the decider to set up a last-16 clash with Martin Atkins.
Former quarter-finalist Atkins progressed with an impressive 3-0 win over 14th seed Pip Blackwell.
But Hankey, who won the tournament in 2000 and 2009, suffered a first-round exit on this occasion.
Hankey was beaten 3-0 by Welsh 10th seed Martin Phillips, who will play Dennis Harbour in the next round.
