The Republic of Ireland was shocked out of the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt by debutants Chinese Taipei. Despite fighting back from a 3-1 deficit, ninth seeds William O’Connor and Keane Barry were unable to avoid a 4-3 loss in the deciding leg. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland avoided an upset and advanced to the last 16 with a 4-3 win over Switzerland.
Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan, the sixth seeds, secured top spot in Group B after defeating South Africa 4-1 and Switzerland 4-3. Several other teams including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, hosts Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden also progressed to the next round.
Top seeds England, Wales, Scotland, and the Netherlands will enter the competition on Saturday after automatically qualifying for the second round. The defending champions Wales will face Croatia while the Netherlands will take on Belgium and Northern Ireland will compete against Germany. The action continues to heat up as the tournament progresses.