Ando a late bloomer
GARY ON RIGHT TR ACK
GARY ANDERSON revealed his delayed entrance at Alexandra Palace was due to quarantine after he was alerted to a Covid threat by track and trace technology.
‘ The Flying Scotsman’ opened his bid for a third title at the William Hill PDC World Championship with a 3- 1 win over 750- 1 Latvian outsider Madars Razma.
Already struggling with fluid and inflammation in his left knee, Anderson was due to begin his campaign last Sunday.
But his match was put back 72 hours so he could complete the mandatory 14- day self- isolation after a contact returned a positive test for coronavirus this month.
Had Anderson received his trackandtrace alert 48 hours later, he would have been ruled out of his 20th World Championship.
He said: “They ping you and say, ‘ You’ve got to have two weeks off.’ And you think, ‘ Yes, what a result!’
“If we get told to do something, that’s the rule.
“That’s what you have to do. We stick to it, simple as that. It’s black and white.
“I have a rough idea who I came into contact with – it might have been the police, Costa, Mcdonald’s – but I get back and I stay home.
“Back home we do it right – we shop as little as possible, meet people as little as possible – and then you come to London, Tier 4, don’t touch the bannister, don’t touch anything... it’s a bit scary.”
Anderson, 50 earlier this week, headed home to spend Christmas in Somerset, and he will return to the PDC ‘ bubble’ in north London to be tested – with every other player – on Boxing Day.
Non- British players stranded in the UK for the festive season by Europe shutting its borders have not been so lucky.
He said: “I’m fortunate to get home for Christmas – a lot of the boys are having to miss out now.
“I’ll get back and watch the kids opening their presents and then head back up.”
‘ Rapid’ Ricky Evans set up another Ally Pally duel with world No. 1 Michael van Gerwen and admitted: “I’ve just landed the hardest job in darts.”
Evans and MVG, the two fastest throwers on the circuit, meet for the second year running in a blinkandyou’ll- miss- it showdown.
But Evans, who battled to a 3- 1 win over Mickey Mansell to reach the third round, said: “I was snarling up there.
“At times I felt as team had just lost.” if my football