‘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.

• Follow all the action from the World Darts Championship as it happens with SunSport’s LIVE blog

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’.

BEST FREE BET SIGN-UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

“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.

“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.”