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.
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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.
I had minor league baseball scouts drooling over me – but now I’m the new star of the World Darts Championships
“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.”
