‘This can’t be real,’ says lucky fan who bagged £60k at World Darts Championship thanks to gift from grandparents
CHRISTIAN KIST gave one darts fan an early Christmas present of £60,000 as he hit the first nine-darter of the World Championship.
The Dutchman nailed the perfect leg to win the opening set of his clash with Madars Razma at the Ally Pally on Wednesday night.
It became the first nine-darter to trigger Paddy Power’s £180,000 bonus – split evenly between the player, Prostate Cancer UK and a lucky fan in the crowd.
Kist, 38, delivered the traditional route of perfection of 180, 180 and then 60, 57 and double 12 to send the crowd wild.
Just a year ago the Dutch ace became the first victim of Luke Littler’s run to glory in the Worlds – but still lost out 3-1 to Razma.
Elated Chris, 28, from Sutton, was picked out as a face in the crowd on the big screen and that’s when he realised he’d won the jackpot.
The railway guard said: “My grandparents Stuart and Pauline bought me the tickets for the darts for my birthday last Saturday. My grandad is with me tonight.
“It was just a normal day. I came here after work. I knew about this nine-darter initiative. But I wasn’t 100 per cent sure how it worked.
“I didn’t know if you had to sign but obviously when I got here that’s when I found out you did to be entered into it.
“But you don’t expect to win it, do you? When I saw my face on the screen I turned round to my grandad and said ‘Seriously, oh my god this is mental’.
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“I kept going ‘This can’t be real’. Everyone around me was cheering.
“When the nine-darter went in both me and my grandad looked at each other and said what next and when’s it getting announced.
“In the ad break they were saying ‘Someone has won 60 grand’.
“I’m back in work tomorrow but I don’t know what time yet.
“I’m a guard’s manager and I work for South Western Railway, a bit like a conductor.
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“I’ve just told my girlfriend and she’s blowing my phone up. We moved into a flat together this year.
“Either we’ll pay off some of the mortgage. But we’ll definitely have a great Christmas.
“This will take a while to sink in, that’s for sure.”