Wright edged out of world No.1 spot in final
Livingston-born world champion Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright missed out on reaching the world No.1 spot as he suffered defeat in the International Darts Open final.
The 51-year-old has won the PDC World Championship twice in the last three years but, remarkably, has never sat atop the world rankings.
He had the chance to do that for the first time in his career at the weekend, but was beaten 8-4 in Germany by current No.1 Gerwyn Price.
The Welshman was too strong for Snakebite, missing only one double all match and averaging over 106 to seal the title for a third time in four years.
Wright had been in fine form having beaten Niko Springer 6-2 in the last-16 before needing a last leg shoot-out with Michael Smith, the man he defeated in the World Championship final two months ago, to win his quarter-final match against the Englishman.
His semi-final with Jonny Clayton was a bit less stressful as he sealed a comfortable 7-3 win but was undone by Price in the final.
Afterwards, he said: “I’ve got to fight to become world number one, I know it won’t just be given to me.
“Gerwyn showed why he is world number one and a former World Champion; he never gives up, he always fights. But I’m after him, and hopefully I can do enough over the next few weeks.”
Wright could rise to world No.1 with a good showing at the Cazoo UK Open this weekend in Minehead.
The 2017 winner enters as the second seed and receives a bye to the fourth round.
Before that he’s back in Premier League Darts action tonight (Thursday) in Exeter where he will do battle with Price once more.
The two square-off in the quarterfinal, with the winner facing either James Wade or Gary Anderson.
Wright sits third in the table after three events but has picked up just one win in three matches since winning the final on the opening night of the revamped competition.
The action is live on Sky Sports from 7pm. The weekend’s UK Open is being televised on ITV4.