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The tournament's fourth seed edged through a tense battle to move into the next stage of the world darts championship on Sunday.

'The Bullet', who reached losing semi-finalist last year, was taken all the way to a deciding tie-breaker by Poland’s Sebastian Bialecki before finally clinching a hard-fought victory at Alexandra Palace.

An Eventful Match

Bunting began in blistering fashion, posting a superb 119.4 to power through the opening set. The win appeared certain after checking out a spectacular 160 finish to seize the second set.

However, his momentum stalled, and he managed just one leg over the next two sets. This enabled Bialecki – who remained oblivious even when a wasp landed on his shoulder – to draw level. Bunting found his rhythm in the decider, but was still taken to the wire before winning it 4-2.

“Performing at Ally Pally you go through all the emotions,” Bunting stated on Sky Sports. “I knew Sebastian was going to be tough and even at 2-0 he never gave in. I am lucky to get away with that one.”

Kumar Creates Groundbreaking Victory

Bunting's next opponent will be 'The Royal Bengal', who made history by becoming the first Indian winner at the tournament. He overcame the Netherlands' Richard Veenstra 3-2 in a closely-fought contest.

The 40-year-old, who had been defeated in all four of his prior first-round appearances, suggested this landmark win could have “created a pathway to a billion” darts players from India.

“I’m lost for words at this moment. I’m ecstatic, I’m happy,” Kumar expressed. “With belief, anything is possible. I’ve dreamed of this ever since I watched Dennis Priestley win the World Championship.”

He joked with a humorous prediction: “I’m sorry, a decade in the future if you have eight people in the world championship entering to Bollywood music, you know who started it.”

Further First-Round Results

• Darren Beveridge: The Scotland's debutant made an strong start, averaging 91.62 in a one-sided 3-0 win over Belgium's Dimitri Van den Bergh, who won just one leg.
• Jonny Tata: Another first-timer, from New Zealand, ended the hopes of world No. 27 Ritchie Edhouse with a resounding 3-0 victory.
• Dom Taylor: The other newcomer defeated Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak by the identical 3-0 margin.
• Joe Cullen: The world No. 32 was in fine fettle as he eased past Bradley Brooks 3-0.
• Wesley Plaisier: The Dutch player overcame Germany’s Lukas Wenig 3-1.
• James Hurrell: Rounded off the evening's play with a 3-1 victory over America’s Stowe Buntz.