‘I want to go out with a bang’ – Paul Lim on verge of becoming oldest darts world champion ever 42 YEARS after debut

DARTS legend Paul Lim is one match away from becoming the oldest darts world champion ever - 42 years after his making his debut in the tournament.

The 70-year-old Singaporean dispatched Jason Brandon 5-0 to book his place in the final against Irish legend Shane McGuirk at Lakeside.

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Lim eased into Sunday's final of the WDF World Championship after making his first appearance at the tournament in three decades.

And he did in style too, reeling 14 consecutive legs before closing out a straight sets victory.

An emotional Lim said: "I'm so glad to be in the final, because I want to go out with a bang.

"In my heart actually I felt that I'm prepared for it. I really am and I just want to do well.

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"I always say that in any tournament, you just want to do well, and if you do well and you get beaten by a better opponent, tough luck.

"That's what it is and we accept that, because I've been through it for 40 years. I think a bit of luck is on my side, but you create your own luck.

"I know I have a tough opponent. I just want to go up there and play my darts that's all, and hopefully that will entertain the audience."

After dropping the opening leg, he won six on the bounce to go 2-0 up at the first break.

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He broke to begin set three with a 67 checkout and followed it up with a 17-dart hold and taking advantage of missed chances for Brandon who was under the cosh at 4-0.

Lim began the fifth set with a stunning 104 checkout and hit an 180 on his way to wrap up the 5-0 win.

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He etched his name into darts folklore with the first nine-darter at a World Championship back in 1990.

And tomorrow, he could become the oldest world champion.

Lim made his debut at the BDO World Championship all the way back in 1982 - which predates the inception of the WDC (now the PDC).

McGuirk, meanwhile, has been throwing a plus-90 average all tournament.

Over the years, Lim has graced several PDC stages, reaching the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay and the last-16 of the World Grand Prix in the 1990s.

He went close to more nine-dart glory against Gary Anderson at the PDC Worlds in 2017, narrowly missing double 12.

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Lim realises that time does not play in his favour.

Earlier this week he dropped the news that this World Championship will likely be his last.

Darts World Championship full draw

Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)

• Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito

• Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz

• James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont

• Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto

• Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt

• Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist

• Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb

• Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan

• Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock

• Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing

• Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas

• Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell

• Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer

• Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong

• Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates

• Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar

• Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven

• Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo

• Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx

• Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin

• Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto

• Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan

• Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry

• Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen

• Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long

• Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee

• Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting

• Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida

• Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers

• Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen

• Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin

• Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac