Paul Lim

Born in Singapore, Lim is the son of a wealthy jade merchant who had several wives, and he has over twenty siblings.{{Cite news |date=1989-08-03 |title=Lim's Method? A Dart To The Heart |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-lims-method-a-d/171742525/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Charlotte Observer |pages=40}} He moved to England at the age of 20 after he had completed national service,{{Cite web |title=At 63, Singapore darts maestro Paul Lim remains one of the world’s best |url=https://www.todayonline.com/sports/63-singapore-darts-maestro-paul-lim-remains-one-worlds-best |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=TODAY |language=en}} where he attended culinary school.{{Cite news |date=1997-07-01 |title=Lim cookin' as world-class darts player |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-bernardino-county-sun-lim-cookin/171743413/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The San Bernardino County Sun |pages=19}} Lim began playing darts in the 1970s at a local pub while he was living in Chiswick.{{Cite news |date=2025-03-15 |title=2024 ST Athlete of the Year nominee: Darts player Paul Lim |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/2024-st-athlete-of-the-year-nominee-paul-lim |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}} He returned to Singapore at 26 to work as a hotel chef, then moved to Papua New Guinea in 1982{{Cite news |date=2024-12-10 |title=Old is gold for Singapore’s 70-year-old darts legend Paul Lim |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/old-is-gold-for-singapores-70-year-old-darts-legend-paul-lim |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}} to work at a Travelodge hotel.

While in Papua New Guinea, Lim began to represent them in darts internationally, winning the 1980 World Darts Federation Pacific Cup singles title and defeating American Jerry Umberger. He hit a ten-dart finish during this tournament.{{Cite news |date=1980-11-25 |title=The long and short of being the Master! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-mirror-the-long-and-short-of-being/171740916/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Daily Mirror |pages=29}}

Lim became friends with Jerry Umberger, who he had defeated in the Pacific Cup, and Lim moved to San Bernardino, California{{Cite web |date=2017-06-07 |title=At 63, Paul Lim stuns world of darts - Singapore News |url=https://theindependent.sg/at-63-paul-lim-stuns-world-of-darts/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=theindependent.sg |language=en-US}} in 1985{{Cite web |date=2022-03-10 |title=Why Did You Decide to Become a Professional Darts Player? -THE WORLD ONLINE LEAGUE: International Players- {{!}} News {{!}} DARTSLIVE Singapore {{!}} DARTSLIVE |url=https://www.dartslive.com/sg/news/79681/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.dartslive.com |language=en-US}} to play on the American darts circuit. He maintained a part-time job as a chef while playing darts on the weekends. Originally playing for the United States, Lim began playing for Singapore once they gained WDF status. In 1988, he was the number one darts player in the United States; he had ranked highest in 1987 but as he had not resided in the country long enough he was not eligible to be number one.{{Cite news |date=1988-07-30 |title=Champ targets San Bernardino |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-bernardino-county-sun-champ-targ/171741724/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The San Bernardino County Sun |pages=21}}

Lim made his World Championship debut in 1982, losing a first-round match to Dave Whitcombe.{{Cite news |date=1982-01-10 |title=Crafty Cockney Eric exits in dismal display |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-sun-crafty-cockney-eric-exits-in/171741051/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Sunday Sun |pages=39}} He failed to progress beyond the second round for the next seven years. In 1990, Lim achieved the first World Championship nine-dart finish against Jack McKenna in the second round on 9 January and won a bonus prize of £52,000.{{Cite news |date=1990-01-10 |title=Lim hits £52,000 nine-dart check-out |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-northern-echo-north-durham-ed-lim/171742646/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Northern Echo (North Durham ed.) |pages=8}} This was the second ever televised nine-dart finish in history, after John Lowe hit one against Keith Deller in 1984.{{Cite news |date=2014-12-31 |title=Paul Lim's nine-dart finish at Lakeside revisited 25 years on |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/darts/30029851 |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}} It was the only year that Lim reached the quarter-finals of the event, and he lost again to Cliff Lazarenko.

In 1994, Lim decided to switch to the World Darts Council (now PDC) and made his debut at the 1994 World Matchplay. He 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.

Lim reached the last 16 of the Las Vegas Open in January 2007.{{Cite web |title=Las Vegas Open results |url=http://vcda.org/LVRESULT.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224125831/http://vcda.org/LVRESULT.htm |archive-date=24 February 2017 |access-date=14 February 2007}}

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.{{cite web |title=Ladbrokes WDC Day Seven |url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/118l9m5pe8k9c1nz8yeoc1ogq7/title/ladbrokes-wdc-day-seven |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231052500/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/118l9m5pe8k9c1nz8yeoc1ogq7/title/ladbrokes-wdc-day-seven |archive-date=31 December 2012 |access-date=20 December 2012 |publisher=PDC |df=dmy-all}} 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.{{cite web |date=18 December 2013 |title=Ladbrokes World Championship Day Six |url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1alv34ezca3l1eqpqz2h4y5tc/title/ladbrokes-world-championship-day-six |publisher=PDC}}

Lim made his debut in the 2014 World Cup of Darts as he represented Singapore with Harith Lim. They won five legs in a row in the opening round against Ireland to progress with a 5–3 win.{{cite web | url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/13ot1jnntsvt21nv34y1z7tv3u/title/bwin-world-cup-of-darts-first-round | title=bwin World Cup of Darts First Round | publisher=PDC | access-date=7 June 2014}} In the second round Lim lost to South Africa's Devon Petersen, but Harith beat Graham Filby, resulting in a doubles match to settle the tie. Singapore were edged out 4–3, but never had a dart for the match.{{cite web | url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1p7xud0zzg9fq1frtcn5jnh4wx/title/bwin-world-cup-of-darts-second-round | title=bwin World Cup of Darts Second Round | publisher=PDC | access-date=8 June 2014}}

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.{{cite web | url=http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResultsPrize.aspx?EventKey=6072 | title=2015 Soft Tip Dartslive France Player Prize Money | publisher=Darts Database | access-date=15 December 2015}} He went on to play Aleksandr Oreshkin in the preliminary round and missed two match darts in a 2–1 set defeat.{{cite web | url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/1mioot5go7iqx1trx6chy3u09c/title/william-hill-world-championship-day-four | title=William Hill World Championship Day Four | publisher=PDC | access-date=22 December 2015}} 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.pdc.tv/world-cup-of-darts/article/szq0pfcgcaye13w8ej1zypox3/title/betway-world-cup-of-darts-round-two | title=Betway World Cup of Darts Round Two | publisher=PDC | access-date=22 December 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028022154/http://www.pdc.tv/world-cup-of-darts/article/szq0pfcgcaye13w8ej1zypox3/title/betway-world-cup-of-darts-round-two | archive-date=28 October 2016 | df=dmy-all }} Lim won the Soft Tip Dartslive events in Taipei and Korea during the year.{{cite web|title=Paul Lim 2016|url=http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?PlayerKey=1566|publisher=Darts Database|access-date=22 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223005151/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?playerKey=1566|archive-date=23 December 2016}}

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 beat Spain 4–0 in a doubles match to make it through to the quarter-finals of the event for the first time.{{cite web| url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/b2wub8sg0ndl1sx75jxiqt57p/title/dream-come-true-for-lim| title="Dream Come True" For Lim| publisher=PDC| access-date=10 June 2017| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612185008/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/b2wub8sg0ndl1sx75jxiqt57p/title/dream-come-true-for-lim| archive-date=12 June 2017| df=dmy-all}} 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.{{cite web| url=http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/dlghacxun5vo1tf4e5u54f5rt/title/betway-world-cup-of-darts-finals-day| title=Dutch Delight In Betway World Cup of Darts| publisher=PDC| access-date=10 June 2017| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612190516/http://www.pdc.tv/news/article/dlghacxun5vo1tf4e5u54f5rt/title/betway-world-cup-of-darts-finals-day| archive-date=12 June 2017| df=dmy-all}}

In the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Lim 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=8808&showAverages=Y|title = 2018 PDC World Championship Results}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pdc.tv/news/2018/06/02/2018-betway-world-cup-day-three|title=2018 Betway World Cup Day Three|date=2 June 2018 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventResults.aspx?EventKey=22673&showAverages=Y|title=2018 PDC World Cup of Darts Results}}

Lim qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship by finishing 5th on the 2018 PDC Asian Tour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pdc.tv/news/2018/10/14/world-championship-lim-among-asian-tour-qualifiers|title = World Championship: Lim Among Asian Tour Qualifiers| date=14 October 2018 }} He lost to Ross Smith 3–1 in round 1.

After a successful 2019 Asian Tour, finishing 3rd, he qualified for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship where he lost to Luke Woodhouse 3–0 in the first round.

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

At the 2024 WDF World Darts Championship, Lim was the oldest player at the tournament.{{Cite news |date=2024-12-09 |title=Oldest man in darts world championship final, Singapore’s Paul Lim, 70, gets a silver |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/oldest-man-in-darts-world-championship-final-singapores-paul-lim-70-gets-a-silver |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}} A 150/1 outsider to win, he defied the odds to make the final, ultimately losing to Shane McGuirk 6–3.{{cite web|url=https://dartswdf.com/news/marvellous-mcguirk-ends-lim-fairytale-to-win-2024-wdf-men-s-world-championship|title=Marvellous McGuirk ends Lim fairytale to win 2024 WDF Men's World Championship|website=dartswdf.com|date=8 December 2024|accessdate=9 December 2024}}

At 5'7, Lim was considered quite small to be a darts player; a 1980 Daily Mirror article commented on the height difference between him and fellow World Masters finalist Tom Taylor.

Lim was a guest on British television gameshow Bullseye in 1984.{{Cite news |date=1984-03-24 |title=Bullseye |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/manchester-evening-news-bullseye/171741219/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Manchester Evening News |pages=79}}

Lim is married to Janet, who is of English origin, and the couple have two sons. While living in San Bernardino, Lim worked as a chef, predominantly in French and Asian cuisines.

• 1982: First round (lost to Dave Whitcombe 0–2){{Cite news |date=1982-01-10 |title=Crafty Cockney Eric exits in dismal display |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-sun-crafty-cockney-eric-exits-in/171741051/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Sunday Sun |pages=39}}
• 1983: Second round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 1–3){{Cite news |date=1983-01-05 |title=Jocky Wilson on target |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph-jocky-wilson-on-targ/171741067/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Daily Telegraph |pages=21}}
• 1984: First round (lost to Mike Gregory 0–2){{Cite news |date=1984-01-02 |title=Confident Mike faces Stefan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-post-confident-mike-faces-stefan/171741123/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Evening Post |pages=3}}
• 1985: First round (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–2){{Cite news |date=1985-01-07 |title=Gregory dazzled by George |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-record-gregory-dazzled-by-george/171741258/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Daily Record |pages=28}}
• 1986: Second round (lost to Peter Locke 0–3){{Cite news |date=1986-01-08 |title=Glazier cracks it |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/huddersfield-daily-examiner-glazier-crac/171741351/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Huddersfield Daily Examiner |pages=12}}
• 1987: Second round (lost to Bob Anderson 1–3){{Cite news |date=1987-01-14 |title=Anderson carries on winning in World title bid |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/western-daily-press-anderson-carries-on/171741426/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Western Daily Press |pages=26}}
• 1988: Second round (lost to John Lowe 1–3){{Cite news |date=1988-01-14 |title=Jocky wins tough test |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-evening-mail-jocky-wins-tough/171741513/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Birmingham Evening Mail |pages=75}}
• 1989: Second round (lost to John Lowe 2–3){{Cite news |date=1989-01-11 |title=Bristow again proved right |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hull-daily-mail-bristow-again-proved-rig/171742406/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Hull Daily Mail |pages=39}}
• 1990: Quarter-finals (lost to Cliff Lazarenko 0–4){{Cite news |date=1990-01-12 |title=Taylor nears dream |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/leicester-mercury-taylor-nears-dream/171742984/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Leicester Mercury |pages=23}}
• 1991: First round (lost to Alan Warriner 0–3){{Cite news |date=1991-01-07 |title=Lowe goes out |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-citizen-lowe-goes-out/171743028/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=The Citizen |pages=24}}
• 1992: Second round (lost to John Lowe 0–3){{Cite news |date=1992-01-07 |title=Rally came too late to save battling Bristow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-sentinel-rally-came-too-late-to/171743086/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Evening Sentinel |pages=34}}
• 1994: Second round (lost to John Part 0–3){{Cite news |date=1994-01-05 |title=Article clipped from Herald Express |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/herald-express/171743223/ |access-date=2025-05-05 |work=Herald Express |pages=27}}

• 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)

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

• 2024: Runner-up (lost to Shane McGuirk 3–6)

BDO

PDC

WDF

WSDT

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• {{DartsOrakel|Paul Lim}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161223005151/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?playerKey=1566 Paul Lim profile]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150703015221/http://www.dartslive.com/player/paullim.html Paul Lim DARTSLIVE PRO profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Paul}}

Category:1954 births

Category:Singaporean darts players

Category:Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent

Category:Living people

Category:British Darts Organisation players

Category:Professional Darts Corporation associate players

Category:Darts players who have thrown televised nine-dart games

Category:PDC World Cup of Darts Singaporean team