PDC Darts goes virtual as thousands tune in for YouTube tournament amid coronavirus lockdown

Devon Petersen had the honour of winning the inaugural Darts at Home league

Top PDC Darts stars defied the global sporting shutdown to live-stream a tournament from the comfort of their respective living rooms this week.

Thousands of fans logged onto the PDC’s YouTube channel to witness a five-strong feast of top-level darts action interspersed with buffering, failing phone batteries and an improbable attempt at a nine-dart finish.

Devon Petersen had the honour of winning the inaugural Darts at Home league, finishing the night with three wins from his four matches.

The South African won the opening match of the challenge with an emphatic 4-1 over Premier League challenger Chris Dobey.

Petersen said: “I’m absolutely elated. Chris is a fantastic player, but he’s obviously not as good in his own home as he is on the big stage.”

Petersen’s run was halted, however, as reigning world youth champion Luke Humphries – another challenger in this year’s Premier League – wrapped up a 4-2 victory by hitting the first seven darts of a prospective nine-dart finish.

Humphries’ own progress was subsequently stalled by a chronically low phone battery, which caused a couple of late schedule changes, while Dobey had to dash off in between matches to take part in another tournament elsewhere on the web.

The climax of Peterson’s match against Ted Evetts was cruelly frozen by technical problems, but only briefly as its minor faults simply provided an increasingly welcome reminder of the unpredictability of live sporting action.

Like all other sports, the darts schedule has been hit by cancellations due to coronavirus. On Wednesday, the Nordic Masters was moved back four months to October, while the US Darts Masters has been postponed to 2021.

PA