Peter Wright fires back at doubters and vows to knock Luke Littler and Luke Humphries out of World Darts Championship
PETER WRIGHT is motivated to bash up the two oche Lukes and show that darts is A Country for Old Men.
Snakebite, 54, has been throwing darts for three decades but says his hunger has been ramped up by the recent emergence of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.
Teen sensation Littler is 17 while Humphries is 29 but the Scotsman, who is a grandfather, is not ready to give up yet – even if the beard is much greyer these days.
Wright plays speedster Jermaine Wattimena in round three after Christmas.
And the two-time world champion said: “People think: ‘Oh, he should be retiring, he should be going to the old git’s thing.’ No, I’m not ready for that yet.
“I’m ready to upset Luke Littler. I’m here to upset Luke Humphries. I believe I can win it.
“I won one of the European Tours, beat Luke Littler in the final, won six legs on the trot. You can overlook me if you like, I don’t care.
“What drives me on? Luke Humphries and Luke Littler. Because I know I can still compete with them.
“What I’m doing in practice, I can compete with these guys and be better than them.
“I’m 54 coming up to 55 in March next year and Gary (Anderson) spurs me on as well. These old guys can still do it.
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“I believe I’ve got the game. My practice and everything is better than I was when I first came and won it and told you all I was going to win it. That’s how I feel.”
Wright – who dressed up as a purple santa for his 3-1 second-round struggle over Wesley Plaisier – said: “I’ve given out all my presents this year.
“It’s unbelievable. All the people that have beaten me, it’s only down to my own self because I played rubbish. But they have had their presents.
“They ain’t having no more. You have had them. No present this Christmas.”
Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
- Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
- Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
- James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
- Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
- Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
- Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
- Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
- Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
- Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
- Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
- Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
- Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
- Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
- Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
- Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
- Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
- Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
- Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
- Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
- Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
- Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
- Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
- Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
- Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
- Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
- Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
- Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
- Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
- Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
- Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
- Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
- Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac