The ninth WDF World Cup is played for the second time in the largest gambling city of the world; Las Vegas. In 1979 WDF World Cup II was also held there, back then with only men's teams. Just like two years ago in Zandvoort Netherlands, there were 32 countries in the men’s competition. In the ladies, 26 countries started for their sixth WDF World Cup Darts.
Traditionally, there are relatively many Caribbean countries when playing in North America. There are also three debuting countries; The Czech Republic, Hungary and South Africa have joined the WDF World Cup family. The Sahara Hotel is the place to be from 13 to 16 October, just like 14 years ago. That does not apply to a lot of trusted names. This WDF World Cup goes down in history as the first after the split, with a large number of top players having set up their own darts association, later known as the PDC.
In the team event the first semi-final is between England and the USA. England took the oche with a brand-new team after the 1992 split in the world of darts. This year Kevin Kenny, Ronnie Baxter, Dave Askew and Steve Beaton had to uphold the honour of the English team. They reach the final quite easily by beating Larry Butler, Dave Kelly, Tony Payne & Gerald Verrier from the host nation USA with 9-3. In the other semi-final Wales with Eric Burden, Martin Phillips, Sean Palfrey & Ken Thomas played Scotland with Ronnie Sharp, Trevor Nurse, Alan Brown & Mike Veitch. Wales quickly took a 7-1 lead, but the Scots came back to 8-6. Wales did eventually win it, 9-6.
In the final, the England team quickly took a comfortable 5-0 lead and never gave Wales a chance to come back in the match. England, with a completely new team, won the team event 9-3. The second consecutive win for England in the team event, the sixth time in total.