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Paul Lim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the American ecclesiastical historian, see Paul C. H. Lim.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Lim.

Paul Lim
Personal information
Full namePaul Lim Leong Hwa
林良華
Nickname"The Singapore Slinger"
Born (1954-01-25) 25 January 1954 (age 71)
Singapore
Darts information
Playing darts since1973
Darts21g Target
LateralityRight-handed
Walk-on music"Walk of Life" by Dire Straits preceded opening from "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO1980–1994
PDC1994–
WDF1980–1994, 2019–
Current world ranking(WDF) 40 Decrease 4 (17 February 2025)[1]
WDF major events – best performances
World ChampionshipRunner Up: 2024
World MastersLast 16: 1981, 1985, 1987, 1988
PDC premier events – best performances
World ChampionshipLast 16: 2001
World MatchplayQuarter Final: 1995
World Grand PrixLast 16: 1998, 1999
Desert ClassicLast 32: 2004
US Open/WSoDLast 64: 2008, 2010
WSDT major events – best performances
World ChampionshipLast 24: 2022
World MastersLast 20: 2022
Other tournament wins
Australian Grand Masters 1983
Bud Brick Memorial 2022
Camellia Classic 1994
Colorado Open 2005
Darts America 1986, 1990
Golden Gate Classic 1987
Hong Kong Open 1989, 1992,
1998, 2000, 2001
Houston Open 1980, 1987, 1995
Japan Open 2022
Los Angeles Open 1987, 1993
Malaysian Open 1980
Oregon Open 1999
Philippines Open 2018
Singapore Open 1992, 1993
Virginia Beach Classic 1992, 1998
PDC Asian Tour 2018, 2019 (x2), 2023, 2025 (x2)
PDC Asia Qualifier 2017
Bullshooter World Ch'ship 1996
Dartslive France 2017
Dartslive Hong Kong 2012
Dartslive Korea 2016
Dartslive Taipei 2016
THE WORLD 2011
Ulaanbaatar Open 2023, 2024
Other achievements
First player to achieve nine-dart finish at World Championships (1990)
Medal record
Men's Darts
Representing  Papua New Guinea
WDF Asia-Pacific Cup
Gold medal – first place 1980 Newcastle Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1980 Newcastle Team event
Gold medal – first place 1984 Honolulu Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1986 Auckland Men's singles
Representing  United States
WDF Asia-Pacific Cup
Gold medal – first place 1988 Tokyo Team event
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Mixed pairs
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Team event
Gold medal – first place 1990 Singapore Men's overall
Silver medal – second place 1990 Singapore Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 1990 Singapore Men's pairs
Representing  Singapore
WDF World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1987 Copenhagen Men's singles
Bronze medal – third place 1989 Toronto Men's pairs
IDF World Ch'ship
Silver medal – second place 2013 Shanghai Men's singles
Representing  Hong Kong
WDF World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2019 Cluj Men's team
Updated on 19 November 2007.

Paul Lim Leong Hwa[2] (born 25 January 1954) is a Singaporean professional darts player. Nicknamed "the Singapore Slinger", Lim was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achieved in 1990 during his second round match against Jack McKenna. He was the runner-up at the 2024 WDF Lakeside World Championship.

Early life

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Born in Singapore, Lim is the son of a wealthy jade merchant who had several wives, and he has over twenty siblings.[3] He moved to England at the age of 20 after he had completed national service,[4] where he attended culinary school.[5] Lim began playing darts in the 1970s at a local pub while he was living in Chiswick.[6] He returned to Singapore at 26 to work as a hotel chef, then moved to Papua New Guinea in 1982[7] to work at a Travelodge hotel.[4]

Career

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While in Papua New Guinea, Lim began to represent them in darts internationally, winning the 1980 World Darts Federation Pacific Cup singles title and defeating American Jerry Umberger.[4] He hit a ten-dart finish during this tournament.[8]

Lim became friends with Jerry Umberger, who he had defeated in the Pacific Cup, and Lim moved to San Bernardino, California[9] in 1985[10] to play on the American darts circuit.[4] He maintained a part-time job as a chef while playing darts on the weekends. Originally playing for the United States, Lim began playing for Singapore once they gained WDF status.[4] In 1988, he was the number one darts player in the United States; he had ranked highest in 1987 but as he had not resided in the country long enough he was not eligible to be number one.[11]

Lim made his World Championship debut in 1982, losing a first-round match to Dave Whitcombe.[12] He failed to progress beyond the second round for the next seven years. In 1990, Lim achieved the first World Championship nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna in the second round on 9 January and won a bonus prize of £52,000.[13] This was the second ever televised nine-dart finish in history, after John Lowe hit one against Keith Deller in 1984.[14] It was the only year that Lim reached the quarter-finals of the event, and he lost again to Cliff Lazarenko.

In 1994, Lim decided to switch to the World Darts Council (now PDC) and made his debut at the 1994 World Matchplay. He never enjoyed any success in the PDC – he won only one match in the PDC World Championship, despite appearing in the tournament each year between 1997 and 2002.

Lim reached the last 16 of the Las Vegas Open in January 2007.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

Lim made his debut in the 2014 World Cup of Darts as he represented Singapore with Harith Lim. They won five legs in a row in the opening round against Ireland to progress with a 5–3 win.[18] In the second round Lim lost to South Africa's Devon Petersen, but Harith beat Graham Filby, resulting in a doubles match to settle the tie. Singapore were edged out 4–3, but never had a dart for the match.[19]

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.[20] He went on to play Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round and missed two match darts in a 2–1 set defeat.[21] Lim and Harith made it to the second round of the 2016 World Cup, but lost their singles matches 4–2 to Austria's Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez.[22] Lim won the Soft Tip Dartslive events in Taipei and Korea during the year.[23]

In the first round of the 2017 World Cup Lim and Harith met the number one seeds of Scotland represented by Gary Anderson and Peter Wright. A 100 finish from Lim completed a huge 5–2 shock victory for Singapore and they then beat Spain 4–0 in a doubles match to make it through to the quarter-finals of the event for the first time.[24] Lim lost 4–1 to Belgium's Kim Huybrechts (who averaged 121.97), but Harith defeated Ronny Huybrechts 4–2. Singapore's tournament was ended in the deciding doubles match as Belgium progressed 4–2.[25]

In the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Lim defeated Kai Fan Leung, and number 30 seed Mark Webster to set up a second round clash with Gary Anderson. He lost the match 4-1 and also missed double 12 for a nine-dart finish.[26] In the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, he again paired up with Harith, where they defeated New Zealand 5–3 to set up a second round clash with England. In the first round, Paul defeated world champion Rob Cross 4–2 with an average of 102.29. However, Harith lost his singles match to Dave Chisnall, meaning a doubles match was required which they lost 4–1.[27][28]

Lim qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship by finishing 5th on the 2018 PDC Asian Tour.[29] He lost to Ross Smith 3–1 in round 1.

After a successful 2019 Asian Tour, finishing 3rd, he qualified for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship where he lost to Luke Woodhouse 3–0 in the first round.

Lim took part in the 2019 WDF World Cup representing Hong Kong instead of Singapore.

At the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship, Lim was the oldest player at the tournament.[30] A 150/1 outsider to win,[30] he defied the odds to make the final, ultimately losing to Shane McGuirk 6–3.[31]

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At 5'7, Lim was considered quite small to be a darts player;[3] a 1980 Daily Mirror article commented on the height difference between him and fellow World Masters finalist Tom Taylor.[8]

Lim was a guest on British television gameshow Bullseye in 1984.[32]

Personal life

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Lim is married to Janet, who is of English origin,[13] and the couple have two sons.[9][4] While living in San Bernardino, Lim worked as a chef, predominantly in French and Asian cuisines.[11]

World Championship results

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BDO

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PDC

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WSDT

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WDF

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Career finals

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WDF major finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-up)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[N 1]
Winner 1. 1980 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles United States Jerry Umberger unknown
Winner 2. 1984 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles Australia Terry O'Dea unknown
Winner 3. 1986 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles United States Len Heard unknown
Runner-up 1. 1990 Asia-Pacific Cup Singles Canada Albert Anstey unknown
Runner-up 2. 2024 WDF World Darts Championship Republic of Ireland Shane McGuirk 3–6 (s)

Career statistics

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Performance timeline

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BDO

Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship DNQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R QF 1R 2R DNQ 2R DNP
World Masters Prel. 3R 3R 2R 1R 4R 2R 4R 4R 3R DNP Prel. DNP 2R
MFI World Matchplay Not held DNP 1R QF 1R 1R Not held

PDC

Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship DNP RR RR 1R 1R 2R 1R DNP 1R Prel. DNP Prel. DNP 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R DNQ
World Matchplay 2R QF 2R 2R 1R 1R DNP 1R DNP
World Grand Prix Not held 1R RR DNP
PDC Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts Not held DNP NH DNP 2R 1R 2R QF 2R 2R WD 2R 1R RR RR
PDC Past major events
Las Vegas Desert Classic Not held DNP 1R DNP Not held
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 25 16 12 14 17 20 25 32 38 77 142 177 412 413 186 182 146 157 101 92 - 155 - 103 133 138 105 126 - - -

WDF

Tournament 2022 2023 2024
WDF World Darts Championship DNP F
World Masters 2R NH DNP

WSDT

Tournament 2022
World Seniors Darts Championship 1R
Performance Table Legend
W Won the tournament F Finalist SF Semifinalist QF Quarterfinalist #R
RR
Prel. 		Lost in # round
Round-robin
Preliminary round 		DQ Disqualified
DNQ Did not qualify DNP Did not participate WD Withdrew NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded

Notes

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  1. ^ (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

References

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  1. ^ "WDF Men's Rankings Table". WDF. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  2. ^ Brown, Derek (1981). Guinness Book of Darts. London: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. ISBN 0-85112-229-9.
  3. ^ a b "Lim's Method? A Dart To The Heart". The Charlotte Observer. 3 August 1989. p. 40. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "At 63, Singapore darts maestro Paul Lim remains one of the world's best". TODAY. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  5. ^ "Lim cookin' as world-class darts player". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1 July 1997. p. 19. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  6. ^ "2024 ST Athlete of the Year nominee: Darts player Paul Lim". The Straits Times. 15 March 2025. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  7. ^ "Old is gold for Singapore's 70-year-old darts legend Paul Lim". The Straits Times. 10 December 2024. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  8. ^ a b "The long and short of being the Master!". Daily Mirror. 25 November 1980. p. 29. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  9. ^ a b "At 63, Paul Lim stuns world of darts - Singapore News". theindependent.sg. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  10. ^ "Why Did You Decide to Become a Professional Darts Player? -THE WORLD ONLINE LEAGUE: International Players- | News | DARTSLIVE Singapore | DARTSLIVE". www.dartslive.com. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Champ targets San Bernardino". The San Bernardino County Sun. 30 July 1988. p. 21. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Crafty Cockney Eric exits in dismal display". Sunday Sun. 10 January 1982. p. 39. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Lim hits £52,000 nine-dart check-out". The Northern Echo (North Durham ed.). 10 January 1990. p. 8. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  14. ^ "Paul Lim's nine-dart finish at Lakeside revisited 25 years on". BBC Sport. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  15. ^ "Las Vegas Open results". Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
  16. ^ "Ladbrokes WDC Day Seven". PDC. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  17. ^ "Ladbrokes World Championship Day Six". PDC. 18 December 2013.
  18. ^ "bwin World Cup of Darts First Round". PDC. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  19. ^ "bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round". PDC. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  20. ^ "2015 Soft Tip Dartslive France Player Prize Money". Darts Database. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  21. ^ "William Hill World Championship Day Four". PDC. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  22. ^ "Betway World Cup of Darts Round Two". PDC. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  23. ^ "Paul Lim 2016". Darts Database. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  24. ^ ""Dream Come True" For Lim". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Dutch Delight In Betway World Cup of Darts". PDC. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  26. ^ "2018 PDC World Championship Results".
  27. ^ "2018 Betway World Cup Day Three". 2 June 2018.
  28. ^ "2018 PDC World Cup of Darts Results".
  29. ^ "World Championship: Lim Among Asian Tour Qualifiers". 14 October 2018.
  30. ^ a b "Oldest man in darts world championship final, Singapore's Paul Lim, 70, gets a silver". The Straits Times. 9 December 2024. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  31. ^ "Marvellous McGuirk ends Lim fairytale to win 2024 WDF Men's World Championship". dartswdf.com. 8 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  32. ^ "Bullseye". Manchester Evening News. 24 March 1984. p. 79. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  33. ^ "Crafty Cockney Eric exits in dismal display". Sunday Sun. 10 January 1982. p. 39. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  34. ^ "Jocky Wilson on target". The Daily Telegraph. 5 January 1983. p. 21. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  35. ^ "Confident Mike faces Stefan". Evening Post. 2 January 1984. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  36. ^ "Gregory dazzled by George". Daily Record. 7 January 1985. p. 28. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  37. ^ "Glazier cracks it". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 8 January 1986. p. 12. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  38. ^ "Anderson carries on winning in World title bid". Western Daily Press. 14 January 1987. p. 26. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  39. ^ "Jocky wins tough test". Birmingham Evening Mail. 14 January 1988. p. 75. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  40. ^ "Bristow again proved right". Hull Daily Mail. 11 January 1989. p. 39. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  41. ^ "Taylor nears dream". Leicester Mercury. 12 January 1990. p. 23. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  42. ^ "Lowe goes out". The Citizen. 7 January 1991. p. 24. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  43. ^ "Rally came too late to save battling Bristow". Evening Sentinel. 7 January 1992. p. 34. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  44. ^ "Article clipped from Herald Express". Herald Express. 5 January 1994. p. 27. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
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