FRANKFURT — Sweden defeated Canada 8-5 Saturday to reach the quarterfinals of the My Diesel Claim World Cup of Darts for the first time.
Canadians Jeff (The Silencer) Smith and Matt (Ginja Ninja) Campbell were tied with Dennis Nilsson and Oskar Lukasiak after 10 legs.
But legs of 15, 14 and 15 darts from the Swedish duo saw them pull away from the 12th-seeded Canadians with Nilsson nailing a double-16 to complete the win.
Canada defeated India 4-2 and Hungary 4-1 to advance to the round of 16 at the 40-country competition in Germany that includes a prize pot of more than $760,000.
Smith arrived on a high after winning the bet365 North American Championship darts title earlier this month in New York. The 47-year-old from Hampton, N.B., also finished runner-up at the companion bet365 U.S. Darts Masters, losing to world No. 3 Michael van Gerwen in the final.
Campbell, a 33-year-old from Hamilton, is ranked 60th in the world compared to No. 69 for Smith, who made his fifth appearance at the World Cup. Smith beat Campbell to win the North American Championship.
Canada has made the quarterfinals of the World Cup three times in the past.
Four-time winners England and the Netherlands, alongside 2020 winners Wales and two-time champion Scotland, got a bye into the round of 16.
Canada and the other 35 teams were split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round, with the group winners moving on.
The World Cup wraps up Sunday at Frankfurt's Eissporthalle.
The winning team will collect roughly $135,000. Smith and Campbell earned just over $15,000 for reaching the round of 16.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2023
The Canadian Press
