Peter Wright faced a real struggle after beating Jermaine Wattimena in an impressive win.
The entertaining Scotsman was visibly struggling with a nasty cough on stage, avoiding his famous dance as part of his walk on to stage at the Alexandra Palace.
Sky SportsWright visibly struggled while on stage[/caption]
But despite battling a chest infection, the former two-time world champion was able to incredibly produce some oche magic to beat Wattimena 4-1 in sets.
When kindly giving an interview to talkSPORT.com, the winner was still visibly struggling.
But he was able to summarise his performance on stage, where he managed to light up the Palace as always despite his illness.
When asked about his illness struggles, Wright said: “Yeah definitely, obviously I’m not feeling well.
“And knowing Jermaine is playing some good darts especially in the past couple of months.
“I knew it would be a really hard game, but I just took it each leg at a time.
“It was fantastic from the crowd from there support I really appreciate it.
“I feel like I have the same chances of going all the way as everyone else.
“If I can play like that feeling like this, I feel I have as much chance of winning it as everyone else.”
talksportWright’s struggles continued after the match[/caption]
Wright averaged 96.19 in an impressive victory, higher than some of his struggling performances on tour this year.
‘Snakebite’ had been beaten by Wattimena 6-0 in their most recent meeting at the European Championship.
But he was able to pull a real rabbit from out of his hat to secure his place in the last 16.
He was regularly coughing into a cloth on stage, but was roared on by the crowd as he fought against his body to oust the in-form Dutchman.
He will face World No.1 Luke Humphries next, with the reigning champion making light work of Nick Kenny with a 4-0 drubbing in the match after.
Humphries is the man to beat this year, being ranked No.1 with the PDC Order Of Merit.
Kieran Cleeves / PDCWright struggled throughout the match but won in style[/caption]
And at the prospect of facing ‘Cool Hand’ next, he added: “You know it will be a fantastic match.
“It will be fantastic to potentially play the World No.1 and the world champion.”
Tune into talkSPORT 2 for coverage of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, as we bring you exclusive live commentary from Alexandra Palace. Listen via our web player, app, on DAB, or through your smart speaker.