Balfour and Walkin Power Trinidad and Tobago to BetVictor World Cup of Darts

Joshua Balfour and James Walkin delivered a dominant final performance in Panama City, defeating Rashad Sweeting and Lorenzo Deveaux of the Bahamas 10-1 to win the CDLC BetVictor World Cup of Darts Qualifier and book Trinidad and Tobago’s place in the 2026 BetVictor World Cup of Darts.

The victory sends Balfour and Walkin to the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, where they will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Professional Darts Corporation’s BetVictor World Cup of Darts from June 11-14.

The qualifier featured 28 teams representing 12 countries, beginning with round-robin group play before the top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout rounds. By the end of the night, it was Trinidad and Tobago standing tall, with Balfour and Walkin capping their campaign with a clinical display against the first-time finalist Bahamian pairing.

Both teams were appearing in a World Cup Qualifier final for the first time, but the Trinidad duo settled into the occasion quickly. After taking the opening two legs, Balfour and Walkin briefly saw the Bahamas get on the board in the third, but that proved to be their only concession of the match. From there, Trinidad and Tobago reeled off eight straight legs to complete a 10-1 victory in 47 minutes.

Balfour and Walkin averaged 67.91 as a team, compared with 65.41 for Sweeting and Deveaux, and controlled the scoreboard throughout the contest. Their strongest legs came in Leg 2 and Leg 10, both won in 18 darts with 83.50 leg averages, while Leg 5 was a 17-dart hold that helped push the lead to 4-1 and fully swing the final in their favor.

Sweeting, who became one of the breakout stories of the 2025 World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, had been solid throughout the day alongside Deveaux, but the Bahamian challenge went off the boil in the final. The Bahamas pairing managed just one leg despite several competitive visits, while Balfour and Walkin repeatedly found enough scoring and finishing pressure to keep the match moving in one direction.

Balfour also gained a measure of revenge along the way. In the quarterfinals, he and Walkin edged Argentina’s Jesus Salate and Victor Guillin 5-4, eliminating the reigning qualifier champions and turning the tables on Salate, who had beaten Balfour in the final of the CDLC Tour kickoff event the previous day.

Salate and Guillin had lifted this title in 2025 before making an immediate impression on the World Cup stage, thrilling the crowd at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt by winning their group on debut and advancing to the knockout round. Their title defense in Panama City ended in a last-leg quarterfinal, but only after Balfour and Walkin survived one of the tournament’s defining matches.

That narrow win over Argentina proved to be the key hurdle. After sweeping Brazil’s Roberto Wentz and Claudio Domingues 5-0 in the Last 16, the Trinidad pair survived the quarterfinal thriller against Salate and Guillin before defeating Chile’s Mauricio Carcamo and George Patterson 8-4 in the semifinals. Once in the final, Balfour and Walkin produced their most complete performance of the tournament.

Sweeting and Deveaux also earned their place in the final with a strong knockout run. The Bahamians opened with a 5-1 win over Costa Rica’s Alex Gutierrez and Nelson Hernandez, then defeated fellow Bahamas representatives Nelson Rahming and Navarro Bastian 5-2 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they knocked out 2024 qualifier champions Sudesh Fitzgerald and Norman Madhoo of Guyana, 8-5, to secure their place in the title match.

Fitzgerald and Madhoo’s title defense ended one step short of the final, while Argentina’s reign as defending qualifier champions ended in a quarterfinal deciding leg. The depth of the field was on display across the knockout bracket, with four Last-16 matches going the full distance, including Jamaica’s Michael Pinnock and Vasseon Roye edging Costa Rica’s Guillermo Soto and Jafet Vanegas 5-4, Guyana’s Christopher Lochan and Luis Ramirez-Merlano surviving Panama’s Barry Snyder and Jaime Cerrada 5-4, and Chile’s Carcamo and Patterson defeating Costa Rica’s Jonathan Quiros and Ernesto Jimenez by the same score.

But the night belonged to Trinidad and Tobago.

With a first-time finalist on each side of the stage, Balfour and Walkin seized the moment, powered through the final, and claimed the World Cup ticket with authority. The 10-1 scoreline left no doubt, and Trinidad and Tobago will now carry the CDLC banner to Frankfurt in June.

Knockout Results

Last 16
Rashad Sweeting/Lorenzo Deveaux def. Alex Gutierrez/Nelson Hernandez, 5-1
Nelson Rahming/Navarro Bastian def. Michael Rivas/Mikhael Achong, 5-0
Sudesh Fitzgerald/Norman Madhoo def. David Alzola/Kimberli Rivas, 5-3
Michael Pinnock/Vasseon Roye def. Guillermo Soto/Jafet Vanegas, 5-4
Christopher Lochan/Luis Ramirez-Merlano def. Barry Snyder/Jaime Cerrada, 5-4
Mauricio Carcamo/George Patterson def. Jonathan Quiros/Ernesto Jimenez, 5-4
Joshua Balfour/James Walkin def. Roberto Wentz/Claudio Domingues, 5-0
Jesus Salate/Victor Guillin def. Samuel Marcelo de Olivera/Anderson Viera de Sousa, 5-1

Quarterfinals
Rashad Sweeting/Lorenzo Deveaux def. Nelson Rahming/Navarro Bastian, 5-2
Sudesh Fitzgerald/Norman Madhoo def. Michael Pinnock/Vasseon Roye, 5-2
Mauricio Carcamo/George Patterson def. Christopher Lochan/Luis Ramirez-Merlano, 5-1
Joshua Balfour/James Walkin def. Jesus Salate/Victor Guillin, 5-4

Semifinals
Rashad Sweeting/Lorenzo Deveaux def. Sudesh Fitzgerald/Norman Madhoo, 8-5
Joshua Balfour/James Walkin def. Mauricio Carcamo/George Patterson, 8-4

Final
Joshua Balfour/James Walkin def. Rashad Sweeting/Lorenzo Deveaux, 10-1