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The tournament's fourth seed narrowly avoided an early exit to progress into the second round of the prestigious tournament on Sunday.

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

A Rollercoaster Battle

Bunting made a flying start, posting a superb 119.4 en route to powering through the first set. The win appeared certain after checking out a spectacular 160 finish to claim the second set.

However, ‘The Bullet’ cooled off, and he won just one leg over the next two sets. This let Bialecki – who remained unfazed even when a wasp landed on his shoulder – to pull back. Bunting steadied himself in the decider, but was still taken to the wire before securing it 4-2.

“Competing at Alexandra Palace you experience all the feelings,” Bunting stated on broadcasters. “I knew Sebastian was going to be tough and even at 2-0 he never gave in. I am fortunate to come through that one.”

Kumar Secures Groundbreaking Win

Bunting's next opponent will be Nitin Kumar, who created a landmark by becoming the initial victor from India at the championship. He defeated Dutchman Richard Veenstra 3-2 in a thrilling contest.

The veteran player, who had been defeated in all four of his previous first-round matches, remarked this breakthrough could have “opened the floodgates to a billion” darts players from his homeland.

“Words fail me right now. I’m ecstatic, I’m happy,” said Kumar. “Dream big, anything is achievable. This vision motivated me ever since I watched Dennis Priestley win the World Championship.”

He concluded with a humorous prediction: “I’m sorry, a decade down the line if you have eight people in the world championship walking on to Indian film songs, you know who started it.”

Further First-Round Results

• Darren Beveridge: The Scottish debutant made an convincing start, averaging 91.62 in a dominant 3-0 win over Belgium's Dimitri Van den Bergh, who managed just one leg.
• Jonny Tata: Another first-timer, from New Zealand, dashed the hopes of world No. 27 Ritchie Edhouse with a commanding 3-0 victory.
• Dom Taylor: The other newcomer beat Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak by the identical 3-0 margin.
• Joe Cullen: The world No. 32 was in fine fettle as he comfortably defeated Bradley Brooks 3-0.
• Wesley Plaisier: The Dutchman beat Germany’s Lukas Wenig 3-1.
• James Hurrell: Rounded off the evening's play with a 3-1 victory over American Stowe Buntz.