Favourites in the BDO World Cup, the Netherlands, got off to a bad start in their opening match in Group B, going down to Korea 3-2. Hyo Sik You scored twice in three minutes to give the Koreans the lead. Brouwer and Taekema pulled one each back for the Dutch, but the Koreans re-took the lead with a late goal by Jong Ho Seo.
The other favourites in Group B were given a scare by their opponents. In the first match of the tournament, the host nation, Germany, faced India. The match began by looking like a cure for insomnia, but Christopher Zeller brought the game to life with a beautifully struck penalty corner goal in the first half. After the restart it looked as if we had a revived and refreshed Indian side on the pitch and after a period of intense pressure on the German goal, Shivendra Singh picked up one of many rebounds from a corner strike to put the teams on level terms. The Germans struck back shortly afterwards courtesy of a penalty corner goal by Oliver Hentschel. However, the Indians would not let the Germans rest on their laurels. In a beautiful one-two move Singh potted a second. With 90 seconds left on the clock, and with every prospect that they had dropped a vital two points, Zeller scored again from open play, to give the Germans a 3-2 victory.
New Zealand took an early lead against Argentina in their opening Group A match with two stunning penalty corner conversions by Hayden Shaw. Their opposition started the match with energy but their moral was sapped by Shaw’s striking power. New Zealand got a third goal in open play after a scramble in the Argentine goal resulted in 18 year-old Simon Child pouncing on a loose ball. Final score 3-0.
Favourites in the BDO World Cup, the 