Ireland crash out of World Cup of Darts with shock Chinese Taipei loss

Republic of Ireland crashed out of the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt after suffering one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history at the hands of debutants Chinese Taipei.

Ninth seeds William O’Connor and Keane Barry looked set to avoid an upset after battling back from 3-1 down to force a deciding leg.

But Teng Lieh Pupo and An-Sheng Lu regained their composure to secure a 4-3 success and progress as Group E winners, having also defeated Lithuania 4-2 earlier on Friday.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland avoided any upset to book their place in last 16 with a 4-3 victory over Switzerland.

Josh Rock and Brendan Dolan, the tournament’s sixth seeds, built on Thursday’s 4-1 win over South Africa to secure top spot in Group B.

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Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, hosts Germany, unseeded Italy, Poland and Sweden also progressed.

Top seeds England, Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands will enter the action on Saturday after automatically qualifying for the second round.

England face France in their opening matchup, while defending champions Wales have been drawn against Croatia. Third-seeded Netherlands are up against fifth-ranked Belgium and Northern Ireland take on seventh seeds Germany.

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