Paul Lim

For the American ecclesiastical historian, see Paul C. H. Lim.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lim.

Paul Lim
Personal information
Full name	Paul Lim Leong Hwa 林良華
Nickname	"The Singapore Slinger"
Born	(1954-01-25) 25 January 1954 Singapore
Darts information
Playing darts since	1973
Darts	21g Target
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Walk of Life" by Dire Straits preceded opening from "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1980–1994
PDC	1994–
WDF	1980–1994, 2019–
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Final: 1990
World Masters	Last 16: 1981, 1985, 1987, 1988
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 16: 2001
World Matchplay	Quarter Final: 1995
World Grand Prix	Last 16: 1998, 1999
Desert Classic	Last 32: 2004
US Open/WSoD	Last 64: 2008, 2010
WSDT major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 24: 2022
World Masters	Last 20: 2022
Other tournament wins
Australian Grand Masters 1983 Bud Brick Memorial 2022 Camellia Classic 1994 Colorado Open 2005 Darts America 1986, 1990 Golden Gate Classic 1987 Hong Kong Open 1989, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001 Houston Open 1980, 1987, 1995 Japan Open 2022 Los Angeles Open 1987, 1993 Malaysian Open 1980 Oregon Open 1999 Singapore Open 1992, 1993 Virginia Beach Classic 1992, 1998 PDC Asian Tour 2018, 2019 (x2), 2023 PDC Asia Qualifier 2017 Bullshooter World Ch'ship 1996 Dartslive France 2017 Dartslive Hong Kong 2012 Dartslive Korea 2016 Dartslive Taipei 2016 THE WORLD 2011 Ulaanbaatar Open 2023
Other achievements
First player to achieve nine dart finish at World Championships (1990)
Medal record Men's Darts Representing Papua New Guinea WDF Asia-Pacific Cup 1980 Newcastle Men's singles 1980 Newcastle Team event 1984 Honolulu Men's singles 1986 Auckland Men's singles Representing United States WDF Asia-Pacific Cup 1988 Tokyo Team event 1990 Singapore Mixed pairs 1990 Singapore Team event 1990 Singapore Men's overall 1990 Singapore Men's singles 1990 Singapore Men's pairs Representing Singapore IDF World Ch'ship 2013 Shanghai Men's singles Representing Hong Kong WDF World Cup 2019 Cluj Men's team
Updated on 19 November 2007.

Paul Lim Leong Hwa (born 25 January 1954) is a Singaporean professional darts player. He was the first player to hit a perfect nine-dart finish during the Embassy World Darts Championship, which he achieved in 1990 during his second round match against Jack McKenna. Lim won £52,000 for his nine-darter, which was £28,000 more than Phil Taylor won for winning the tournament. Lim's was the only nine-dart finish in a world championship match until 2009, when Raymond van Barneveld completed one against Jelle Klaasen. It was also the only nine-dart finish ever achieved at the BDO World Darts Championship.

Lim represented four countries in darts; Singapore was not affiliated with the sport's governing body, the World Darts Federation (WDF), so Lim initially played for Papua New Guinea, but later settled in California and represented the United States in international competition, before also playing for his native country when they became a WDF playing nation. Lim has also represented Singapore at the PDC World Cup of Darts, and in the 2017 PDC World Cup of Darts, he and his teammate Harith Lim, reached the quarter-finals, defeating the top seeds Scotland (Gary Anderson and Peter Wright) in the first round. However, in the 2019 WDF World Cup he represented Hong Kong.

Career

Early career

He made his World Championship debut in 1982, losing a first-round match to Dave Whitcombe. He failed to progress beyond the second round for the next seven years – losing to the likes of Cliff Lazarenko (twice), Bob Anderson, Mike Gregory, and John Lowe (three times). Then in 1990 he hit the headlines and jackpot as he achieved the first World Championship nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna in the second round on 9 January. The bonus prize of £52,000 was more than eventual tournament winner Phil Taylor claimed for becoming world champion. It was the only year that Lim reached the quarter-finals of the event, losing again to Lazarenko.

He continued to come up against the biggest names in the game in the world championship: Alan Warriner, John Part (en route to the 1994 title), and Lowe defeated him again in the years after his nine-darter.

Lim decided to switch to darts' other organisation, the World Darts Council (now PDC) later in 1994 and made his debut at the 1994 World Matchplay. Lim never enjoyed any success in the PDC – he won only one match in the PDC World Championship, despite appearing in the tournament each year between 1997 and 2002. Although he no longer competes on the darts circuit full-time, Lim still competes at tournaments in his home country. He reached the last 16 of the Las Vegas Open in January 2007.

He won many titles in and around his native country including five Singapore Opens, five Malaysian Opens, and five Asian Cups, but his failure to reach the final stages of the British Darts Organisation and Professional Darts Corporation major tournaments has meant he will be best remembered for his 1990 nine-dart achievement.

Later career

Lim made his first appearance in the World Championships for 11 years after being awarded a place in the 2013 PDC World Darts Championship, as a result of being the World Soft Tip Champion. He beat Mohd Latif Sapup in the preliminary round 4–1 to set up a first-round match against second favourite for the tournament Michael van Gerwen. Lim lost 3–0, despite hitting the tournament's first 170 finish as well as twelve scores of 140 or more during the match. Lim qualified for the 2014 World Championship via the International Qualifiers. He was drawn against Japan's Morihiro Hashimoto in the preliminary round and was beaten 4–2.

Lim made his debut in the 2014 World Cup of Darts as he represented Singapore with Harith Lim (no relation). They won five legs in a row in the opening round against Ireland to progress with a 5–3 win. In the second round Paul lost to South Africa's Devon Petersen, but Harith beat Graham Filby to mean a doubles match was required to settle the tie. Singapore were edged out 4–3, but never had a dart for the match. Lim lost in the final of the 2015 French Dartslive event to Leonard Gates, but won the Soft Tip Qualifier for the 2016 World Championship for the second time by seeing off Boris Krčmar 4–2 in the final. He went on to play Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round and missed two match darts in a 2–1 set defeat. Lim and Harith made it to the second round of the 2016 World Cup, but lost their singles matches 4–2 to Austria's Mensur Suljović and Rowby-John Rodriguez. Lim won the Soft Tip Dartslive events in Taipei and Korea during the year.

In the first round of the 2017 World Cup Lim and Harith met the number one seeds of Scotland represented by Gary Anderson and Peter Wright. A 100 finish from Lim completed a huge 5–2 shock victory for Singapore and they then whitewashed Spain 4–0 in a doubles match to make it through to the quarter-finals of the event for the first time. Lim lost 4–1 to Belgium's Kim Huybrechts (who averaged 121.97), but Harith defeated Ronny Huybrechts 4–2. Singapore's tournament was ended in the deciding doubles match as Belgium progressed 4–2.

In the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, he defeated Kai Fan Leung, and number 30 seed Mark Webster to set up a second round clash with Gary Anderson. He lost the match 4-1 and also missed double 12 for a nine dart finish. In the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, he again paired up with Harith, where they defeated New Zealand 5-3 to set up a second round clash with England. In the first round, Paul defeated world champion Rob Cross 4-2 with an average of 102.29. However, Harith lost his singles match to Dave Chisnall, meaning a doubles match was required which they lost 4-1.

Lim qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship by finishing 5th on the PDC Asian Tour. He lost to Ross Smith in round 1, After a successful 2019 Asian Tour, finishing 3rd this enabled him to qualify for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship

Lim took part in the 2019 WDF World Cup representing Hong Kong instead of Singapore.

World Championship results

BDO/WDF

• 1982: First round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 0–2)
• 1983: Second round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 1–3)
• 1984: First round (lost to Mike Gregory 0–2)
• 1985: First round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–2)
• 1986: Second round (lost to Peter Locke 0–3)
• 1987: Second round (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3)
• 1988: Second round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)
• 1989: Second round (lost to John Lowe 2–3)
• 1990: Quarter-finals (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–4)
• 1991: First round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0–3)
• 1992: Second round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
• 1994: Second round (lost to John Part 0–3)

PDC

• 1997: Group-stage (lost to John Lowe 1–3 and Jamie Harvey 2–3)
• 1998: Group-stage (lost to Peter Evison 0–3 and John Part 1–3)
• 1999: First round (lost to John Lowe 0–3)
• 2000: First round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 0–3)
• 2001: Second round (lost to Alan Warriner-Little 2–3)
• 2002: First round (lost to Dennis Smith 0–4)
• 2013: First round (lost to Michael van Gerwen 0–3)
• 2014: Preliminary round (lost to Morihiro Hashimoto 2–4)
• 2016: Preliminary round (lost to Aleksandr Oreshkin 1–2)
• 2018: Second round (lost to Gary Anderson 1–4)
• 2019: First round (lost to Ross Smith 1–3)
• 2020: First round (lost to Luke Woodhouse 0–3)
• 2021: Second round (lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh 0–3)
• 2022: First round (lost to Joe Murnan 2–3)

WSDT

• 2022: First round (lost to Dave Prins 1-3)

Career statistics

Performance timeline

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
BDO Ranked televised events
BDO World Championship	DNQ		1R	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	2R	QF	1R	2R	DNQ	2R	DNP																										NH	DNQ
World Masters	Prel.	3R	3R	2R	1R	4R	2R	4R	4R	3R	DNP			Prel.	DNP								2R	DNP																	NH		DNQ
MFI World Matchplay	Not held				DNP	1R	QF	1R	1R	Not held
PDC Ranked televised events
PDC World Championship	Not yet founded														DNP			RR	RR	1R	1R	2R	1R	DNP										1R	Prel.	DNP	Prel.	DNP	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	DNQ
World Matchplay	Not held														2R	QF	2R	2R	1R	1R	DNP	1R	DNP
World Grand Prix	Not held																		1R	RR	DNP
PDC Non-ranked televised events
PDC World Cup of Darts	Not held																														DNP	NH	DNP		2R	1R	2R	QF	2R	2R	WD	2R	1R	RR
PDC Past major events
Las Vegas Desert Classic	Not held																						DNP		1R	DNP					Not held
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	PDC not yet founded														25	16	12	14	17	20	25	32	38	77	142	177	412	413	186	182	146	157	101	92	-	155	-	103	133	138	105	126	-

Performance timeline legend
DNP	Did not play in the event	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = Round robin)	QF	lost in the quarter-finals
SF	lost in the semi-finals	F	lost in the final	W	won the tournament

WDF major finals: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1980	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Jerry Umberger	unknown
Winner	2.	1984	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Terry O'Dea	unknown
Winner	3.	1986	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Len Heard	unknown
Runner-up	1.	1990	Asia-Pacific Cup Singles	Albert Anstey	unknown

Nine-dart finishes

See also: Nine-dart finish

Paul Lim was the first player to manage a nine-dart finish in a world championship. He was the only player to achieve it at the BDO world championship. Lim won £52,000 which was more than tournament winner Phil Taylor who received £24,000.

Paul Lim televised nine-dart finishes

Date	Opponent	Tournament	Method	Prize
9 January 1990	Jack McKenna	BDO World Darts Championship	3 x T20; 3 x T20; T20, T19, D12	£52,000

External links

• Paul Lim profile
• Paul Lim DARTSLIVE PRO profile