Price regains composure to win world title
DARTS
LONDON: Gerwyn Price downed twotime champion Gary Anderson 73 yesterday to become the first Welshman to win the PDC world darts championship.
The 35yearold also becomes the new world No 1 after holding his nerve in a thrilling contest against Scotland’s Anderson at London’s Alexandra Palace.
Price stormed into a 51 lead in their bestof13 final and, although he faltered with the title in sight, Anderson failed to capitalise.
‘‘It’s going to take a couple of days for it to sink in,’’ Price said. ‘‘I’m on cloud nine. I can’t even speak. This means the world to me.
‘‘I was looking over at the scoreboard and it was 63 and I thought, ‘I’ve got a few darts, hopefully I can get more chances’.
‘‘But I bombed numerous opportunities and I was like, ‘Please give me another chance’ and I had to have Gary miss to give me one more opportunity.
‘‘Double five is close to double top, but it’s not my favourite. I’ve never felt pressure like that in my life. That was tough that winning double.’’
Price, who hit 13 180s compared to Anderson’s 10, appeared to be cruising to his first world crown, but he staggered over the finish line after missing 11 match darts in total.
In the penultimate set, Price failed to hit double 10 and double five to secure the triumph and appeared to have missed his chance as Anderson took the first two legs in the final set.
But Price still scored more heavily than his opponent and, when needing double five for victory in the deciding leg, he stepped away from the oche before finally hitting the winning target.
Price pockets £500,000 ($951,000) in prizemoney while Anderson, a twotime winner and now threetime runnerup, will collect £200,000 for coming second.
Price played rugby in the Welsh Premier League until quitting in 2014 to fully focus on darts after earning his place on the PDC as a qualifier.