Alex Moss Talks To Peter Wright About His Recent Success
As Michael van Gerwen hit double
top to win his first PDC World
Championship at the tender age
of 24, the 2,000 sell-out crowd
watching on at the Alexandra Palace
had already crowned its own winner
- Peter Wright.
The
man
nicknamed
‘Snakebite’
wowed darts fans during the two week
extravaganza with his outrageous
costumes and impeccable darts in front
of the television cameras.
A 7-4 defeat in the World final to the
Dutch youngster was Wright’s best result
in a major tournament in his entire
career.
But the Scot’s disappointment at losing
was short-lived as PDC Chairman, Barry
Hearn, announced that he had been
selected for the prestigious Premier
League tournament. A four-month long
event that would see Wright play darts in
many of the UK’s biggest indoor venues
for the first time.
“I was so honoured to have been picked
for it,” said Wright. “It’s the achievement
I’m most proud of since I started playing
darts competitively.”
The current PDC world-ranked number
six’s debut season in darts’ biggest
roadshow has seen him play in front of
big crowds. Some 11,000 fans in the First
Direct Arena in Leeds watched Wright
take out a final leg 161 checkout to draw
6-6 with Raymond van Barneveld in week
seven of the competition.
A 7-5 defeat to rival van Gerwen in week
8 ended the only unbeaten run left in
the competition, a streak which helped
‘Snakebite’ occupy the top four playoff places from week one until week
thirteen, although he ultimately missed
out on a play-off berth.
“It has been fantastic playing in the
Premier League,” Wright continued.
“Out of this world.”
Wright’s achievements over the last
12 months are even more impressive
considering that he was close to
giving up the sport and finding a
new career only a few years ago.
“I was wanting to move house
and knew that I had to start
doing well in the darts to
be able to get the new
home for my family,”
Wright explained.
“My
wife
( J o a n n e )
had
been
supporting me
in my darts from
the beginning. I
needed to prove that I could make it in
the darts world, so it was my last year to
make or break.”
“Jo always had faith in my darts and I
wanted to prove to her that I could do
it.”
Snakebite’s run to the semi-finals of
the 2013 UK Open marked the first
time he had reached the final four of a