HAMBURG — Canada's Dawson Murschell upset world No. 1 Michael van Gerwen 4-2 but the top-seeded Netherlands rallied to down the Canadians 2-1 in quarterfinal action at the BetVictor World Cup of Darts.
At No. 100, the 23-year-old from Medicine Hat, Alta., sits 99 places below van Gerwen in the Professional Darts Corporation Order of Merit.
Later on Sunday, the reigning champion Dutch lost 2-1 to Ireland. The Irish then fell 3-1 in the final to the Scottish duo of Gary Anderson and Peter Wright
The second-seeded Scots had lost in the final twice before, to England in 2015 and the Netherlands in 2018.
For Murschell, who moved to Britain to pursue darts, it was the biggest win of his young career. He had previously made a splash in July 2017 when he survived six match darts to upset James Wade, then ranked sixth in the world, in the first round of the US Darts Masters.
After Murschell's shocking victory, Jim Long lost 2-1 to Jermaine Wattimena and the Canadians lost their doubles match 4-1.
Long, a 51-year-old GM worker from London, Ont., made it to the second round of the William Hill World Darts Championship in December.
Murschell played with former world champion John (Darth Maple) Part at last year's World Cup when Canada made it to the second round before losing to Japan.
The ninth edition of the pairs tournament saw 32 countries compete at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, with 350,000 pounds (C$588,550) in prize money on offer.
The winning Scottish pair collected 70,000 pounds ($117,700) in joining England and the Dutch as the only countries to win the title.
The Canadian Press
