Tuesday, January 04, 2022
Darts world champion soon to be number 1?
Suddenly Peter Wright is invincible
From Kevin Schulte
An unprecedented final spurt brings Peter Wright the second title in a dramatic final of the Darts World Cup. In the end, tears flow, with the winner and the loser. Wright can soon fulfill his next dream.
What an epic final spurt after 16 days of the Darts World Championship. Michael Smith is closer than ever to the greatest possible victory in darts. With 5: 4 in sets and 2: 0 in the legs, the Englishman leads in the final of the Darts World Championship in London’s “Ally Pally”. Another leg and Smith is almost there. But 15 minutes later, the dream is over, because his final opponent Peter Wright suddenly plays robot-like. What has happened there?
Peter Wright was the easy favorite in the World Cup final. Especially after the impressive victory in the Scottish semifinals against Gary Anderson. And Wright lives up to being the favorite at the start of the endgame. Wright quickly grabs the first two of the required seven sentences. At the right moment, the darts land where they should. Even without unpacking the absolute top level, Wright comes a little closer to his second title.
The World Cup final threatens to be a one-sided affair, but Smith raises his level, Wright misses a few opportunities. So it is 2: 2 a little later. From then on, a darts battle develops on a high level. Sometimes Smith hits the triple and double fields more often, sometimes Wright. Sometimes Smith misses great opportunities, sometimes Wright. So after an hour and a half it is 4: 4 in the sentences.
Smith on the verge of victory
After all, the ninth sentence is one that afterwards you could very well have said was the key moment in the game. Peter Wright left five darts on doubles for a renewed lead, Smith stole the sentence from “Snakebite”. The “Bully Boy”, as the 31-year-old Englishman is called because of a bull attack when he was a child, is getting close to his first big win. A short time later, everything finally indicates the triumph of Smith. He leads 2-0 in the tenth set and only needs one leg to take the decisive 6-4 lead if he throws himself off.
This is the moment when Peter Wright goes from a strong opponent in the final to an indomitable darts monster. A 0: 2 in the tenth set turns into a 3: 2 in a few minutes. Wright only needs 39 darts to win the set, an average of 13 per leg. Absolute world class.
But not enough. Wright takes the momentum that is so important in darts with him into the next set, winning it to zero. This time Wright needs 40 darts to win the set, again absolutely world class. Smith has nothing more to oppose. Peter Wright puts in an unprecedented final spurt. In the twelfth set, Smith still wins a single leg, but the World Cup dream has long since been put aside for him. This time there are 38 darts for three legs, in combination with the two sets before an almost unbelievable achievement. Wright wins nine of the last ten legs and is crowned two-time world champion.
Wright is also a world champion of empathy
“I can’t explain what went wrong with my game tonight, I kept exchanging darts to find something that would work. Fortunately, I had a good run in the end. I’m over the moon that I got this great trophy won for the second time, “said Peter Wright after the game.
When Wright sees his defeated competitor crying during the winner’s interview, his eyes glazed over. “Michael is the future of darts. I feel for him because I was in this position myself,” says the 51-year-old, referring to his first lost final in 2014 and the long unsuccessful pursuit of the first world title.
Smith, who had already lost the World Cup final in 2019, said in a broken voice: “This time I won five sets instead of three, but losing these finals is troubling me.” Wright tries to build it up, struggles for words and finds an appropriate way of dealing with the situation, even elicits a laugh from Smith: “Don’t you train your doubles, my friend.” Humor that Smith understands and that is appropriate to the situation. Peter Wright is a two-time darts world champion and also world champion of empathy on this historic darts evening.
Wright still wants three world titles
At the press conference after the triumph, there are less quiet tones when the Scot with the red mohawk confidently announces a new era of darts: “Of course I can win three more world championships before I’m too old.” Two World Cup triumphs bring Wright high up the list of darts legends. The 51-year-old is only the sixth player to have won more than one world championship.
Before he wants to fulfill further World Cup dreams, the conquest of world number 1 is now the next big goal of “Snakebite”. In the so-called Order of Merit, which is determined within two years after the prize money won, the 500,000 pound World Cup reward hits the office hard. A mere 15,250 pounds separate Wright from first place, which last year’s world champion Gerwyn Price defended despite being out of the quarter-finals. “At the end of this year I should be number one. And as the first Scot in history,” stressed Wright.
Wright threw darts at trees
For decades it was not foreseeable that these notes would one day come from the mouth of the Scotsman. Wright, who grew up in poor conditions, threw darts as a child at trees on which he had previously drawn a target. But the darts career does not work out despite great talent, instead Wright has to stay afloat with odd jobs. On the construction site, on the assembly line, as a tire fitter. 1995 Wright dives for the first time on TV when he was eliminated in the first round of the World Amateur Championship. Back then without an mohawk.
In 2004 Wright finally switched to the professional darts organization PDC. In the hope of higher prize money. But the successes remained for years. He will improve to 16th place in the world rankings by the end of 2013, but his income still does not cover the expenses to continue to lead a life as a full professional. Therefore Wright makes a decision: After the World Cup at the end of 2013 / beginning of 2014, darts should be over.
But then Wright sensationally reached the World Cup final and was therefore invited to the financially lucrative Premier League. Wright has money in his pocket again in early 2014. He continues and eight years later is two-time darts world champion.
In the team with his wife Joanne, who doesn’t leave his side. It is she who keeps getting him on the right track. Joanne is not only a partner and confidante, but also her husband’s manager and stylist. Before his games, the owner of a hairdressing salon takes on the time-consuming task of creating Wright’s mohawk and outfits. And if he were to leave now, as a two-time world champion, Wright would be asked about his triumph. “I’m not stepping back, not now. Joanne wouldn’t let me.”