‘I just played terribly’ – Peter Wright flops out of World Darts Championship at first hurdle

Peter Wright could not find anything like his best form against Jim Williams (Picture: Getty Images)

Two-time champion Peter Wright was beaten 3-0 in his opening match of the 2024 World Darts Championship by Welshman Jim Williams on Wednesday night.

Snakebite finished with an average of just 83.87 and a checkout percentrage of only 22.22 per cent in a performance that was startling poor for a man of his ability.

It has been a poor season for Wright and Williams winning is not the greatest upset of all time, but the performance from the Scot was a long, long way below par.

The former world number one won just four legs over the match, with Williams’ average of 90.45 enough to secure a comfortable victory.

‘To be honest I don’t know what happened,’ said Wright. ‘Obviously I was nowhere near good enough to compete against Jim Williams, who is a fantastic player.

‘I haven’t got a clue, practice has been going well but I don’t know what happened. Jim was the better player on the day.

‘Maybe it would have been a different game if I’d hit one of the doubles to win the second set but I didn’t feel confident of actually getting it to be honest; it was “hopefully I hit it” rather than “this one’s going in”.

‘I just played terribly tonight and that’s it.’

Jim Williams didn’t need to hit the heights to win the match comfortably (Picture: Getty Images)

Williams told Sky Sports: ‘It’s a difficult game. I’ve got so much respect for that man. I was fighting myself all the way there a little bit.’

More Trending Read More Stories

‘Probably down to respect, trying too hard, there’s loads of things. I was getting a double when I needed to, I guess that’s the name of the game.

‘It’s a little bit frustrating, but we’ll get there.’

Williams now faces either Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld or Poland’s Radek Szaganski in the third round.

MORE : 16-year-old Luke Littler blows minds with sparkling World Darts Championship debut

MORE : Rob Cross feels he’s built platform for World Darts Championship challenge

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.