No sleep but Gary in groove
Flying Scot into semi-finals
GARy Anderson booked his place in the semi-finals of the PDC World Championship despite a sleepless night before his win over James Wade.
The reigning champion admitted he had just two hours sleep before his 5-1 quarter-final victory yesterday after being woken up by noisy new year celebrations.
And the Flying Scotsman faces a last-four clash with Jelle Klaasen tonight, the man who pushed him all the way to a decider when they met in the second round 12 months ago.
‘It was a quiet one,’ Anderson said about his new year celebrations.
‘But I was woken up about 12.10am by a few noisy ones. ‘I got back to sleep again about 5.55am and was up again at eight so I’ve had two hours sleep and I’m absolutely goosed.’
Klaasen, who beat Alan norris 5-4 yesterday, was three darts away from beating Anderson last year, but the Scot survived and went on to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy.
‘Last year I could’ve beaten Gary but he was just a little bit better,’ Klaasen admitted.
‘I had a 170 finish to win but missed the first treble and then he went on and became the world champion. It was my own fault.
‘I couldn’t hit doubles at the beginning of today’s match, but I kept fighting and got a few good doubles to eventually break Alan,’ added the 31-year-old.
‘I can win the tournament if I play like I have done, but I will have to make it easier for myself by hitting more doubles.’
Wade, meanwhile, said he felt embarrassed and humiliated by his thrashing at the hands of Anderson.
‘Rubbish — there is no other word to describe it,’ Wade said
‘I feel very embarrassed and humiliated.’
‘I probably could have given that game to a million county players or even a lot of pub players and they would have beaten me.’
The PDC Championship may be down to the last four but the BDO equivalent begins today with farmer’s boy Scott Mitchell looking to defend the title he won 12 months ago at the Lakeside.
When ‘Scotty Dog’ won the title by beating BDO stalwart Martin Adams, he knew his life would never be the same again.
‘I’m a farmer’s kid and I’m used to ploughing a field full of 2,000 seagulls,’ said the 45-year-old from the new Forest.
‘Then you put me into Lakeside with 2,000 people screaming my name. I’m not sure who they are but they seem to know who I am. It’s the most topsy-turvy world I’m living in at the moment.
‘Martin is “Mr BDO” and has been for the last 10 years.
‘He’d done me in 24 minutes about three years before. I’d travelled for 12 months to make it to the World Championship and then he beat me 3-0 in the first round in 24 minutes.
‘That was my motivation for the final.’
During his run to the Lakeside final, Mitchell said he would utilise any prize money to buy a new tractor for the family farm.
His father, Jeff, took delivery of the new vehicle soon after Scott’s World Championship win, which earned him £100,000.
‘We went off and got a nice little tractor. The unfortunate thing is I think I need to take my dad for some new glasses now,’ he smiled.
Mitchell begins his campaign against a qualifier while top seed and tournament favourite Glen Durrant faces Dean Reynolds tonight. Scot Ross Montgomery takes on Jamie Hughes.