Smith hungry for more after breaking his major title duck

MICHAEL Smith believes he has “arrived” after finally breaking his major title duck by sealing glory in the Grand Slam of Darts on Sunday night, writes Jonathan Veal.

The 32-year-old had lost his first eight major finals, including three this year, but finally got over the line with a classy 16-5 win over Nathan Aspinall in Wolverhampton.

During that run there have been missed darts for titles, capitulations late on and heartbreaking World Championship final defeats, but he put all that right as he dismantled Aspinall. And Smith is happy to be able to silence the critics.

“I don’t know how to feel, I am used to the emotion of losing,” he joked. “I have arrived now, I have got my first title under my belt and no one can say, ‘Michael Smith hasn’t won a title’.

“I have finally got one under my belt and it is time to step up. I knew when I went in at 15-5 it was just one more, even I couldn’t have messed that up. It is hard when I’m the only person in the top ten not to win a title, I have been there for seven years and it’s just a pain in the a***.

“You keep trying to say you will win one and you keep getting beaten. Now I don’t have to tell myself I’ll win one. Now it is my time. It is time to be greedy now and get more and that is what I want.”

Earlier on Sunday, Smith ended veteran Raymond van Barneveld’s wonderful run in the semi-finals.