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

Bunting, who was a losing semi-finalist last year, was forced all the way to a dramatic fifth leg by Poland’s Sebastian Bialecki before securing a 3-2 victory at Alexandra Palace.

An Eventful Battle

Bunting stormed out of the blocks, posting a superb 119.4 as he powered through the opening set. The win appeared certain after hitting a spectacular 160 finish to claim the second set.

Nevertheless, his form dipped, and he won just one leg over the subsequent two sets. This let Bialecki – who remained unfazed even when a wasp landed on his shoulder – to pull back. Bunting regained his composure in the decider, but was still pushed to the limit before securing it 4-2.

“Competing at Ally Pally you feel all the feelings,” Bunting told broadcasters. “I knew Sebastian was going to be a challenge and even at 2-0 he never gave in. I am fortunate to get away with that one.”

Kumar Makes Historic Victory

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

The veteran player, who had lost in all four of his prior first-round appearances, implied this breakthrough could have “paved the way to a billion” darts players from India.

“I don’t know right now. I’m emotional, I’m delighted,” Kumar stated. “With belief, anything is achievable. I’ve dreamed of this ever since I saw Dennis Priestley win the World Championship.”

He added with a light-hearted warning: “I’m sorry, ten years in the future if you have eight people in the world championship walking on to Bollywood music, you know who started it.”

Other First-Round Action

• 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 managed just one leg.
• Jonny Tata: Another debutant, from New Zealand, ended the hopes of world No. 27 Ritchie Edhouse with a clear 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 good form as he eased past 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 America’s Stowe Buntz.