Photo: PDC Europe
Oskar Lukasiak will have his debut on the Ally Pally stage today when he faces Dom Taylor.
Oskar Lukasiak will be the sixth Nordic and Baltic player to go on the Ally Pally Stage at this World Darts Championship, when he faces Dom Taylor today in the second match of the afternoon.
However is has been something of a rollercoaster for Oskar Lukasiak in his hunt for the spot at the tournament.
Throughout most of the Nordic and Baltic season, the Swede managed to be among the two best in the PDC Nordic & Baltic rankings. But at the very last day of the season, Lukasiak lost in the round of 16, which meant Teemu Harju could take second place with a title – and so the Finn did.
“It was a big disappointment after the weekend in Norway. I think I played good that weekend with a final on a Saturday, but I knew I needed a good run on Sunday as well. When I saw the draw, I was thinking: “Is everyone against me?”. I got really good players from the start and I think all of them started the games really well – it felt like being down by 0-2 or 0-3 in every game even though I played well. And then missing two match darts in the last one, that really hurt,” Oskar Lukasiak tells pdc-nordic.tv.
With the introduction of the PDC Nordic and Baltic Championship however, Oskar Lukasiak saw an extra opportunity to get himself a spot at the World Darts Championship. But once again he ended up relaying on other players, as he lost in the second round against Mindaugas Barauskas.
“It was a really crazy weekend in Denmark, first hoping for myself – but I didn’t really show up, and then see Andreas (Harrysson) lose with a 100 average. I was just thinking: “This is not meant to be”. I didn’t watch any game after Andreas lost his quarter-final, even my girlfriend took my phone from me, so I couldn’t watch the games and I didn’t want to be in the room. I only realised I had qualified, when Dean (Moss) came to hug me and told me that Teemu won the title. It was a big relief.”
By that result the Swede has known about his Ally Pally debut for a little more than two months, meaning he has had some time to prepare.
“I have tried to prepare as good as I could, with both practice and mentally, but I think for me I can’t expect to much and need to go there a day before to feel the atmosphere of Ally Pally. I think the draw is good, maybe for both of us, playing against another debutant.”
And even though it will be a first for Oskar Lukasiak on the stage in London, he has experience from the World Cup of Darts.
“I can take the experience from stage from the World Cup, playing infront of an amazing crowd that is singing and cheering.”
