“I don’t know what happened”: Wright, the bird of paradise, flies out of the World Darts Championship

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Co-favourite Peter Wright (53, number 4 in the world) has already failed sensationally at his opening hurdle. The two-time world champion from Scotland will play against number 47 in the world in the second round. Jim Williams (Wales) performed poorly and lost clearly 3-0.

He kept making changes to his darts, but nothing helped. With an extremely weak average of points per shot (83.32), the number four in the world flies into the lead. In the Grinch look he traditionally wore at the start of the World Cup, Wright did not enter the match from the start.

“I don’t know what happened,” Wright said, according to PDC: “I have no idea, the training went well. I just played terribly and that was it.” Due to the surprisingly early withdrawal, he is in danger of fourth place in the world rankings. Wright started the tournament with a big deficit in the Order of Merit, because his 2022 World Cup title came to an end after the final. January 3 will be removed from the rankings.

Dream debut for 16-year-old mega talent

However, the first 16-year-old world junior champion Luke Littler (England) entered the Ally Pally podium with a bang. Littler played the best average ever in a World Cup debut with 106.12 and defeated the Dutchman Christian Kist 3-0.

The Englishman is also the youngest player to ever win a World Cup match. “It was an incredible experience. My training went well, but I didn’t expect that I would be able to reach this level on the podium,” says the youngster about his success.

Even before the start of the World Cup, Swiss number 1 Stefan Bellmont said that the young man from Roncorn, near Liverpool, should be kept an eye on: “You have to have him on your radar.” Littler’s action continues on Thursday evening when he takes on Andrew Gilding.

The Ally Pally Wasp is back

There were no further surprises in the afternoon. At the end of the first session of the day, Ross Smith (England/No. 16) won 3-1 against Dutchman Niels Zonneveld. But a special guest is making a comeback in this game: the Ally Pally wasp.

The insect has been buzzing around the stage for years and sometimes disrupts the rhythm of the players’ throwing. And for Smith, despite the victory, his start to the World Cup did not end unsatisfactorily: “I got stung three times.”

Luckily the wasp stung his left hand and not his throwing hand. Still, he will look “like an elephant man” in the coming days. For him, however, the third round will only start after the holidays (December 27). So there is enough time for the stitches to heal. (AFP/che)

Source : Blick