Shropshire darter Ted Hankey is through to the quarter-finals of the BDO World Championships at the Lakeside – but admits he must improve to retain his title.

The No 5 seed, from Aqueduct in Telford, thrashed Dutchman Willy van de Wiel by four sets to one to set up a clash with Dave Chisnall from St Helens in the last eight tomorrow.

Hankey’s three-dart average of 89.94 last night was distinctly average, though he put that down to a deliberate ploy of slowing his game to disrupt the fast-throwing van de Wiel.

“I didn’t play well,” he said. “I slowed it down too much and I was missing a lot of darts.

“But I got through the game and that’s all I had to do. I thought that if I threw at his pace he might murder me, so I had to change my game.

“I decided to slow him down and I’m in the next round, so that’s enough for me.”

Hankey will certainly have to raise his game, Chisnall having produced some of the best darts of the tournament to beat Tony West 4-2.

Chisnall finished with an average of 96.84 – and that had been well over 100 in the first four sets.

But the quarter-finals are played over the best of nine sets, and the Telford ace believes that will play into his hands.

“Over the short distances I’m terrible,” he admitted.

“The longer the game goes, the better I get.”

In the first of yesterday’s two other second round ties, Tony O’Shea – who lost to Hankey in last year’s final – beat Stephen Bunting 4-0.

He now plays Norwegian Robert Wagner, who won a tie-breaker to defeat the highly-rated Brian Woods 4-3 in a thriller.

By CHRIS HUDSON