Bunting

Stephen Bunting said he has been left “hurt” after his son was the victim of online abuse.

World number four Bunting, 40, was knocked out of the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship on Saturday with a dramatic 4-3 loss to world number 63 James Hurrell.

Bunting’s son, 13, was in attendance at Alexandra Palace and was shown regularly on television cameras passionately supporting his father during his dramatic loss in seven sets.

Posting on X for the first time since Saturday’s exit, Bunting said the abuse his son has received has been “hurtful” for the whole family.

“Hi guys. Sorry I’ve had a few days away from my socials but I just needed a small bit of time after my game to recover and rest,” Bunting posted.

“I love my family so much and they give me massive motivation to continue this journey. I still believe I have a lot to give darts over the rest of my career and I want to make them forever proud.

“They see the negative comments and do their best to make sure I don’t see them – and even [my son] has had some hate from some of the trolls online, which really is hurtful for us as a family.

“[He] is one of the nicest kids you could wish to meet and I’ll be doing a lot more social stuff with him this coming year.”

Stephen’s son regularly appears alongside his father at events on and off the oche, including Bunting’s social media pages.

The Bullet’s defeat to Hurrell could cost him an automatic qualification spot for the 2026 Premier League Darts campaign, with Bunting likely to drop outside the world’s top four following his early tournament exit.

Kumar’s scoring was inferior to Veenstra’s, but his finishing proved crucial, boasting a 75% checkout success and hitting all his last seven doubles.

“I don’t know what to say right now. I’m overwhelmed, I’m happy,” said Kumar, who is nicknamed ‘The Royal Bengal’.

“If you dream it, anything is possible. I’ve dreamed of this ever since I saw Dennis Priestley win the World Championship (in 1994).”

Asked about what his victory could do for darts in India, he said: “I’ve opened the floodgates to a billion of them.

“I’m sorry, 10 years down the line if you have eight people in the World Championship walking on to Bollywood music, don’t blame me.”

Veenstra hit five 100-plus finishes, with his highest coming at 144. Kumar was not as flamboyant with his scoring, but proved to be incredibly consistent as the crowd roared him on.

Three-time BDO world champion Glen Durrant said on Sky Sports: “It was one of the greatest games I have ever commentated on.

“It’s not just the quality of the match, it’s the impact for Nitin Kumar and what it does for Indian darts.”

Two seeds exited the competition on Sunday – world number 23 Dimitri van den Bergh and 27th-ranked Ritchie Edhouse.

Belgium’s Van den Bergh was out of sorts from the first dart and was comfortably beaten 3-0 by Scottish debutant Darren Beveridge.

In the afternoon session, Edhouse was knocked out by Jonny Tata, who was also making his first appearance.

Former European champion Edhouse was stunned 3-0 by the New Zealander, to taste defeat at this stage for the fourth time in a row.

But the same fate did not follow fellow seed Joe Cullen after he eased past Bradley Brooks with a 3-0 win.

The world number 32 was in fine form to produce his second-highest average on the world stage with 99.33.

Another debutant, Englishman Dom Taylor, progressed to the second round with a 3-0 win over Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak.

Meanwhile, the evening session saw the Netherlands’ Lukas Wenig beat Wesley Plaiser 3-1 while England’s James Hurrell beat Stowe Buntz by the same scoreline.