An emotional Wright celebrates winning his second World Championships
The World Championship was as eventful as ever as a return of fans saw Wright regain the trophy he won in 2020.
The opening weekend sparked the tournament to life as 9 darters from William Borland and Darius Labanauskas entertained an atmospheric Ally Pally crowd. Despite Borland's last leg deciding nine darter against Bradley Brooks, the Scotsman struggled in the second round as Ryan Searle prevailed against the 25 year old by three sets to nil.
The first upset of the World's came when the man who hadn't picked up a dart until 2017, Florian Hempel shocked the then world number 5. Mervyn King then managed an improbable fightback from two sets down to dispatch Ryan Joyce.
On his return to the Ally Pally, Van Barneveld comfortably advanced to the second round with a 3-0 win. Meanwhile, Premier League winner Jonny Clayton was pushed all the way by young Keane Barry in a 3-2 win, with Steve Beaton also holding his nerve against fan favourite Fallon Sherrock.
Meanwhile, world number 2 Peter Snakebite Wright began his World Championship's with a 3-0 win against Ipswich based hair dresser Ryan Meikle. World Championship's reigning champion survived a slight scare against Richie Edhouse to win 3-1.
The third round sparked many shocks as Covid causing dropouts from world number 3 and 3 time world champion Michael Van Gerwen, with fellow Dutchman Van Der Voort and Dave Chisnall also having to dropout due to Covid. However, other shocks such as fireman Alan Soutar's 4-3 win against the (usually) high scoring Jose De Sousa and Callum Rydz' 4-0 win against Aspinall shaking up the betting odds. Dirk Van Duijvenbode scrambled back from 3 sets down to win 4-3 against Ross Smith. Wright himself survived a shock against the only Aussie remaining in the tournament Damien Heta, as he survived from 2 sets down to set up a clash with Ryan Searle.
The 4th round saw an end to Alan Soutar's incredible run as he crashed out at the hands of Callum Rydz. A possible contender for match of the tournament, saw Michael Smith defeat Jonny Clayton with ton plus finishes and 180's in abundance. Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price also comfortably advanced to the Quarter Finals with 4-1 wins.
In the Quarter Finals, Smith edged out the world number 1 Gerwyn Price by 5 sets to 4 in another darting blockbuster. While Wright put Rydz dream run to an end in emphatic affair, that went down to the full 9 sets.
In the Semi's, Wright dismantled fellow darting veteran Gary Anderson as he broke his fellow Scotsman's 180 record with 24 180s, Michael Smith comfortably advanced to the final with 6-3 win over Wade.
So it was Wright vs Smith in the final and what a final it proved to be. A 28 dart leg for Smith featured in the first set as he finally managed to nail the the madhouse to level the legs. But despite having darts to win every leg of the opening set, the Englishman conceded the first set before conceding the second set as well.
However, Bully boy sparked into life in the third set as he started firing in the 180s and broke throw with a 167 checkout. 2 sets on the spin levelled the game for Smith. And the Bully boy found himself in front for the first time in the match when he took the seventh set to make it 4-3. But with the 2019 finalist 5-4 up in sets and 2 legs to the good, Smith crumbled and Wright's fightback commenced as he managed to take the set and level the game.
But it was Wright who held his nerve to win 7-5 and win the World Championship for the second time. So Wright delivered the first half of his promise as he declared before the tournament that he would win both the worlds and the upcoming Matchplay.
Heartbreak for Smith who assessed his performance post match:
“I think I have matured as a player ... I kept fighting back and fighting back ... in the end that bullseye wouldn’t go in .. that’s darts I guess.”
Wright on his opponent:
''I feel so bad because I know as soon as he gets a major he will just trounce everybody, he will.”
Wright on the eventful final:
“Obviously I’m over the moon ... I done it ... but, you know ... obviously me and Mike didn’t perform how we can''
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