Paul Lim

Paul Lim Leong Hwa^[1] known simply as Paul Lim (born 25 January 1954 in Singapore) is a professional darts player. He was the first player to hit a perfect 9-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achieved in 1990 during his second round match against Jack McKenna. Lim won £52,000 for his 9-darter, which was £28,000 more than Phil Taylor won for winning the tournament. John Lowe achieved the first 9-dart finish on television in a match against Keith Deller at the 1984 World Matchplay, for which Lowe won £102,000. Lim's 9-darter remained the only 9-dart game to have been achieved in either version of the world championships, until Raymond van Barneveld hit one against Jelle Klaasen in the quarter-final of the 2009 PDC World Darts Championship.

Lim represented three countries at darts. Singapore was not affiliated with the sport's governing body, the World Darts Federation (WDF), so Lim played briefly for Papua New Guinea, but settled in California and represented the United States in international competition, before also playing for his native country when they became a WDF playing nation.

Career

Early career

He made his World Championship debut in 1982, losing a first round match to Dave Whitcombe. He failed to progress beyond the second round for the next seven years – losing to the likes of Cliff Lazarenko (twice), Bob Anderson, Mike Gregory, and John Lowe (twice). Then in 1990 he hit the headlines and jackpot as he achieved the first World Championship nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna in the second round on 9 January. The bonus prize of £52,000 was more than eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor claimed for becoming world champion. It was the only year that Lim managed to reach the quarter-finals of the event, losing again to Lazarenko.

He continued to come up against the biggest names in the game in the world championship: Alan Warriner, John Part (en route to the 1994 title), and Lowe defeated him again in the years after his nine-darter.

Lim decided to switch to darts other organisation, the World Darts Council (now PDC) later in 1994 and made his debut at the 1994 World Matchplay. Lim never enjoyed any success in the PDC – he managed to win only one match in the PDC World Championship, despite appearing in the tournament each year between 1997 and 2002. Although he no longer competes on the darts circuit full-time, Lim still competes at tournaments in his home country. He reached the last 16 of the Las Vegas Open in January 2007.^[2]

He won many titles in and around his native country including five Singapore Opens, five Malaysian Opens, and five Asian Cups, but his failure to reach the final stages of the British Darts Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation major tournaments has meant he will be best remembered for his 1990 nine-dart achievement.

Later career

Lim made his first appearance in the World Championships for 11 years after being awarded a place in the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, as a result of being the World Soft Tip Champion. He beat Mohd Latif Sapup in the preliminary round 4–1 to set up a first round match against second favourite for the tournament Michael van Gerwen. Lim lost 3–0, despite hitting the tournament's first 170 finish as well as twelve scores of 140 or more during the match.^[3] Lim qualified for the 2014 World Championship via the International Qualifiers. He was drawn against Japan's Morihiro Hashimoto in the preliminary round and was beaten 4–2.^[4] Lim made his debut in the 2014 World Cup of Darts as he represented Singapore with Harith Lim (no relation). They won five legs in a row in the opening round against Ireland to progress with a 5–3 win.^[5] In the second round Paul lost to South Africa's Devon Petersen, but Harith beat Graham Filby to mean a doubles match was required to settle the tie. Singapore were edged out 4–3, but never had a dart for the match.^[6] Lim lost in the final of the 2015 French Dartslive event to Leonard Gates, but won the Soft Tip Qualifier for the 2016 World Championship for the second time by seeing off Boris Krčmar 4–2 in the final.^[7] He went on to play Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round and missed two match darts in a 2–1 set defeat.^[8]

Soft tip darts

Lim is a six-time Medalist (Soft-Tip) Grand Master singles champion. He is arguably the best soft-tip player in the world, even having a dart game programmed with his voice called "out on a Lim".

Outside darts

Lim is a former military policeman and a former chef. He served his National Service in the Singapore army between the ages of 18 to 21. He came to Britain to seek a City and Guilds qualification course in cookery, studying at Battersea and Westminster Colleges in London and undertaking his first role as a chef at the Chelsea Hotel in Knightsbridge. It was whilst he was in Britain studying that he was introduced to the game of darts at the Robin Hood pub near Gunnersbury Station.

He settled in San Bernardino, California and is married to Janet. They have two sons, Christopher and Michael. Michael is an accomplished swimmer, under the direction of Derik Moon, his head coach.

He also has appeared on Bullseye, scoring £203 for charity.

Primarily based in Hong Kong nowadays; shuttling between Hong Kong and Singapore due to i Darts fame.

World Championship results

BDO

• 1982: 1st Round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 0–2)
• 1983: 2nd Round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 1–3)
• 1984: 1st Round (lost to Mike Gregory 0–2)
• 1985: 1st Round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–2)
• 1986: 2nd Round (lost to Peter Locke 0–3)
• 1987: 2nd Round (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3)
• 1988: 2nd Round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)
• 1989: 2nd Round (lost to John Lowe 2–3)
• 1990: Quarter Final (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–4)
• 1991: 1st Round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0–3)
• 1992: 2nd Round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
• 1994: 2nd Round (lost to John Part 0-3)

PDC

• 1997: Last 24 group (lost to John Lowe 1–3) & (lost to Jamie Harvey 2–3)
• 1998: Last 24 group (lost to Peter Evison 0–3) & (lost to John Part 1-3)
• 1999: 1st Round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
• 2000: 1st Round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0–3)
• 2001: 2nd Round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 2–3)
• 2002: 1st Round (lost to Dennis Smith 0–4)
• 2013: 1st Round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–3)
• 2014: Preliminary round (lost to Morihiro Hashimoto 2–4)
• 2016: Preliminary round (lost to Aleksandr Oreshkin 1–2)

Career finals

WDF major finals: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1980	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Jerry Umberger	unknown
Winner	2.	1984	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Terry O'Dea	unknown
Winner	3.	1986	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Len Heard	unknown
Runner-up	1.	1990	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Albert Ansty	unknown

Nine-dart finishes

Paul Lim was the first player to manage a nine-dart finish in the world championship. Lim won £52,000 which was more than tournament winner Phil Taylor who received £24,000.

Paul Lim televised nine-dart finishes

Date	Opponent	Tournament	Method	Prize
9 January 1990	Jack McKenna	BDO World Darts Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£52,000

References

External links

• Paul Lim profile
• Paul Lim DARTSLIVE PRO profile