AUSTRALIA lifted a “life-changing” PDC World Cup of Darts as Simon Whitlock finally gained redemption in this darts team competition.
Whitlock and oche partner Damon Heta jigged on stage to Down Under by Men at Work as they shocked Welsh pair Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton in the final in Frankfurt.
🏆 AUSTRALIA ARE ON TOP OF THE WORLD! 🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA'S DAMON HETA AND SIMON WHITLOCK WIN THE WORLD CUP OF DARTS! Ten years on from final heartbreak, the trophy finally belongs to Australia 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/GZTCi7jVYC
Heta, 34, made amends for missing match darts by overcoming Clayton in the fourth leg for a 3-1 win – the first non-European nation to triumph since its inception in 2010.
It was a career high for both Australians and is a particularly emotional triumph given it comes 10 months after the death of popular compatriot Kyle Anderson, who was 33 years old.
On a personal level, Whitlock ecstatically erased the memories of losing to England’s Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis in 2012 via a sudden-death leg when he and Paul Nicholson rued missed match darts in Hamburg.
Whitlock, 53, said: “I thought this day would come. It’s life-changing, I have dreamt of this moment my entire life and I have finally got there.
“I did it with a great pal and great darts player. I wish I had done it with Kyle before but he’s not around anymore.
“Damon has taken the responsibility. He’s amazing. I love this guy, he is the best player in the planet right now.
“Damon is on fire, he will be the next world champion I can guarantee that.”
Australia, who will share out a £70,000 first prize pot, started the four-day 32-country event as the fifth seeds but beat Belgium 2-1 in the quarter-finals and then England 2-0 in the semi-finals.
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Heta, 34, who hails from Perth but lives in Derbyshire, was playing in his third tournament, having been knocked out of the quarter-finals in 2020 and 2021.
The Heat said: “Simon dragged me through the beginning, let’s put it that way.
“I’m absolutely stoked for this guy, stoked for Australia, and all the support back home.
“Everything we are sacrificing by being here, it’s in the bag baby. Maybe this will be a good stepping stone for me. I just wish my missus was here.”
Price, 37, and Clayton, 47, won this tournament in 2020 but will now target individual glory at next month’s World Matchplay in Blackpool.
The Iceman, a former world no.1, said: “We weren’t at our best in the final. Simon and Damon played fantastic.
“I said to Jonny at the beginning of the tournament, this is the final, we are going to play against them in the final. I predicted we would win but was wrong with that one.
“Fair play to them, a fantastic pair, a good team. We didn’t fire, but we will be back and we will be stronger.
“This is a good platform for me to push on for the rest of the season. Hopefully I will play a bit better and beat this man Jonny in all of the other tournaments.”
Clayton, who is giving up his job as a plasterer with Carmarthenshire county council to go full-time darts, said: “I didn’t perform. I tried to do a job it didn’t happen, I couldn’t put this man into the final game.
“All the best for these two guys, they played fantastic, well done.”
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