Ipswich darts ace confident

By Dave Allard

IPSWICH darts ace Mervyn King says his preparations for the Embassy World Championship could not have gone any better – but he is still taking nothing for granted ahead of his second-round clash.

King was favourite to win the final against Tony David at Frimley Green 12 months ago but the Australian prevailed to end King's dream for another year.

However, he has been putting in the hours on the practice board and he looked cool and composed in his first-round clash.

The world number three eased through with a convincing 3-1 win over Steve Coote, who reached the semi-finals of the Winmau World Masters in November. He faces Dennis Harbour in the next round.

"I've been doing a lot of practise on the board the last couple of months, and I've hit 10 or 12 nine-darters during that period," said King.

"I've been going really, really well. This is the best lead up to the world championship I've ever had. Hopefully it will click out there for the rest of the tournament. I will be keeping my fingers crossed.'

He also revealed that he refuses to look past his next opponent because the standards are so high.

"I never look ahead, I just take each game as they come,' he added. "Each game is basically like a final and it's hard. Every player is a good player and you have to play well to get through.'

Meanwhile, Stockport's Tony O'Shea insists that any of the players through to the last 16 can go on to win the title.

The world number six ended Ted 'The Count' Hankey's title dream with a hard-fought 3-2 win which went right to the wire. He now plays Colin Monk in the second round.

"I think anyone is capable of winning the title. I thought Darryl Fitton was a good outside bet, but unfortunately he lost in the first round. He played Raymond van Barneveld in the Swedish Open final recently and played brilliantly.

"Anyone can beat anyone here - everyone is that good."