The Alexandra Palace stage isn’t just the stamping ground for darts’ top players, but also a platform for young emerging players in the game.
The stories of Josh Rock and Beau Greaves were well-known before they made their PDC World Championship debuts at this 2023 tournament. But there is an abundance of lesser-known, but so less engaging, players coming through.
Take Adam Gawlas, who took on Richie Burnett in a true battle of the generations in the first round. Burnett won the BDO world title in 1995, seven years before Gawlas was born, but youth prevailed at Ally Pally as the Czech thrower edged past the veteran 3-2.
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The win means the 20-year-old will almost certainly keep his PDC Tour card for next year. For now, he is focusing on his second round clash against Ryan Searle this afternoon (Thursday). But long-term, he intends to sort out his diet after admitting he is carrying too much weight.
“It means the world,” he said after his win over Burnett. “It means that I’m 90 per cent to keeping my Tour card. That was the most important thing, to go and play well.
“I’m really happy but now I can just focus on myself and maybe focus to lose some weight because I’m too fat. Darts has made me too fat.”
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His victory over Burnett coincided with his mum’s birthday, who got regular mentions in both his TV interview and press conference.
“Yeah, I think they have already boomed 20 champagnes at home,” he joked of his family back home in the Czech Republic. “I’m really happy to tell you this story and, again, happy birthday to my mum. I don’t need to buy anything, that’s the present for her!”
When pressed on whether he would really not buy his mum a gift, he confirmed: “When I meet her at the airport, when I go home, I think I will buy her something because she’s really important for my life. My English is not that good so I cannot describe my feeling but I’m really happy.”
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