Lim once cooked up rat and snake for Bristow and Jocky!

By Phil Lanning

PAUL LIM could be face John Lowe in the World Seniors Championship next year after once cooking him up a meal of rat and snake!

The Singapore Slinger has been at the very top of the oche for 40 years. Now aged 67, he has shown ‘em all how it’s done over the years.

No other player on the planet can boast to have gone toe-to-toe with the likes or Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Jocky Wilson, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright.

But Lim is still delivering the goods, beating Luke Humphries in the most recent Worlds, and also came within one dart of two remarkable World Championship nine-darters in different codes, almost 30 years apart.

Now Lim will be back on our TV screens at the World Seniors Championship early 2022 to take on the likes of Lowe again, Bob Anderson, Phil Taylor, Wayne Warren and Keith Deller.

However, the most notorious of all stories was when Lim treated his old rivals to a slap up meal to show off his culinary skills.

That’s when he cooked up rat and snake for his pals Brissy, Lowey, Jocky and commentator Dave Lanning.

He revealed: “My darts career started by accident really in London when I was training to be a chef.

“My flatmates got me to go to the pub with them all the time but I’ve never been a big drinker so instead I just played darts.

“I got to a decent level, then played on TV facing the likes of Lowe, Bristow and Jocky. John and Eric liked my food back then, no matter what it was.

“I’m a trained chef in French cooking, so no more rat or snake now! It would have to be only ratatouille!”

Lim has a CV longer than a python taking a morning stretch. He has played for THREE different countries at the World Cup – beginning with Papua New Guinea before joining the USA and now representing his birth nation, Singapore.

Lim also became the only player to hit a perfect leg on the BBC – six years after Old Stoneface Lowe produced the first-ever TV nine-darter on World of Sport.

But Lowe, who played against Lim in his first World Cup and went on to beat him in five World Championships, reckons any opponent should beware the trained cordon bleu chef – after he cooked rat and ordered snake for him and Eric Bristow.

He said: “I’ve known Paul for 45 years and he’s a great bloke. On his day he can beat anyone in the world.

“He’s also a real character. He told Eric and I and a few of the other players that he would cook for us one time in his restaurant.

“It was a feast, amazing stuff. We ate the lot – then afterwards he told us it was cooked rat!

“Another time he took me to a restaurant in Singapore and they served us snake. There were poisonous snakes hanging from poles and we chose one.

“They cut it up in front of us and took out the poison, cooked it and actually it was nice, tasting like lobster.

“But Paul’s also a good player. He’s beaten all the top boys and anyone who can hit a TV nine-darter has tons of ability.

“If Paul is in the mood then he could make them sweat, on the oche or in the kitchen.”

Pictures by Lawrence Lustig.