The subject of the greatest darts walk-on of all-time is a contentious one.
Most fans of the sport would put forward Wayne Mardle's iconic Hawaii 501-themed entrance, Michael van Gerwen and Seven Nation Army or Raymond van Barneveld's Rocky-like introduction. However, the PDC themselves have opted for something entirely different.
Not interested in Barney, MVG, Mardle or even darts great Phil Taylor, the PDC cheekily named Chengan Liu's walk-on as the greatest of all-time. Even for seasoned darts fans, Liu's name isn't one that immediately springs to mind.
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The Chinese thrower has only appeared at two editions of the Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship. He first qualified in 2006, losing straight away to John Part, before returning in 2021 when he took on Darius Labanauskas.
It was during the latter occasion that Liu, nicknamed the Stone Buddha, demonstrated his greatest walk-on of all-time. Introduced by John McDonald, the 51-year-old entered the arena with the sound of You Raise Me Up by Westlife booming over the speakers.
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With no fans allowed into the arena due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the spectacle of Liu's walk-on was made even weirder by the use of piped crowd noise to imitate real darts fans. Despite striding onto the stage of the utmost confidence, Liu ultimately lost 3-0 as he exited at the first round stage for the second time in his career.
Neverless, his walk-on still lives long in the memory. One fan commented on the PDC's post: "That's a 'no show' in many ways…" As one other user took aim at Dirk van Duijvenbode's walk-on and said: "Better than dirk."
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Another person sarcastically added: "Wow, what a party animal." While a fourth commented: "He only came on to this song because his wife liked i reckon hahhha."
Liu has not made it back to Ally Pally since that 3-0 drubbing by Labanauskus, having failed to qualify in 2022 and 2023. He has also missed out on this year's event, which runs until the final on January 3.
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