By Canadian Press

Canada’s Matt (Ginja Ninja) Campbell beaten at world darts championship in London

Dec 22, 2024 | 10:38 AM

LONDON — England’s Ryan (Heavy Metal) Searle knocked Canadian Matt (Ginja Ninja) Campbell out of the Paddy Power World Darts Championship with a 3-0 second-round win Sunday.

Seale is the tournament’s 20th seed, as per his ranking in the Professional Darts Corporation order of merit — 35 places ahead of Campbell.

The 35-year-old from Hamilton, in his sixth trip to darts’ biggest stage, earned 15,000 pounds ($26,915).

The tournament at Alexandra Palace features a total purse of 2.5 million pounds ($4.5 million) with 500,000 ($897,115) going to the winner.

Searle won the first set 3-1 after Campbell failed to make 40 with what proved to be his final three darts in the fourth leg. Searle blanked the Canadian in the second set, taking the second leg with an impressive 164 clockout with two triple 19s and a bull’s-eye.

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It was more of the same in a 3-0 third set win.

“I think the first set was massive,” Searle said. “He missed three darts to make it 2-all and get the throw back … I feel like that defeated him a little bit and I didn’t really look back from there.”

“I’m proud of how I played today.” he added.

Campbell beat Serbian-Austrian Mensur (The Gentle) Suljovic in the first round Thursday.

Jim (Gentleman) Long, the other Canadian in the 96-player field, was ousted 3-0 in the first round Tuesday by England’s James (Hillbilly) Hurrell.

Long, a 56-year-old retired autoworker from London, Ont., qualified for the world championship as the top Canadian on the CDC. It was his second trip to the worlds, having made the second round six years ago.

Campbell, a PDC Tour cardholder, qualified by finishing in the top four of a Tour Card Holder Qualifier in Wigan, England, in November.

Long is going to Q-School in January in a bid to join Campbell on the PDC tour. If he doesn’t make it, he’ll look to compete on the PDC’s second-tier Challenge Tour.

Campbell defeated Lourence Ilagan of the Philippines in first-round play at last year’s tournament, marking his first win at the world championship in five tries.

Campbell then beat 13th seed James Wade of England in the second round before losing to teenage sensation Luke Littler in the third. Littler, then 16, made it all the way to the final where he lost to England’s (Cool Hand) Luke Humphries.

Campbell started playing darts at age 18, starting with a league run out of a friend’s garage. He then started played at the local Legion.

Canadian John (Darth Maple) Part won the world darts championship in 2002-03, beating English legend Phil (The Power) Taylor to end his run of eight victories. Taylor bounced back to win the next three years before Part, now a well-known TV darts pundit, won again in 2007-08.

Canada is one of 28 nations represented at this year’s world championship, including first-time entrants the Bahamas and Switzerland.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2024

The Canadian Press