Peter Wright seals second European Championship title of his career

Peter Wright insisted ‘the old guy can still do it’ after the 53-year-old was crowned European champion.

The flamboyant Livingston-born ace lifted the title for a second time after he got the better of James Wade by defeating the Englishman 11-6 in the final in Dortmund.

It’s the first major title for ‘Snakebite’ since his second PDC World Championship success almost two years ago, while the triumph also sees him jump into second place in the world rankings.

His success was all the more remarkable given he was sitting 4-1 down against Gabriel Clemens in the first round before reeling off five of the next six sets to avoid an early exit.

From then, though, it was relatively plain sailing with a 10-4 win over world no.1 Michael Smith was followed by a 10-8 victory over Chris Dobey to book his place in the semi-final.

He went over the 100 average mark in that clash as he defeated Danny Noppert 11-8 before proving too strong for Wade in the final and claiming the £120,000 top prize.

Speaking to pdc.tv after being crowned European champion for a second time - having previously also beaten Wade in the 2020 final - Wright said: “It’s a brilliant feeling to win another TV tournament. If you look at the calibre of players that were in the quarter-finals – you had Gezzy [Gerwyn Price] there, Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries.

“There was also Danny [Noppert] and Gian van Veen, who I think is the future of darts, and I came out the winner.

“The old guy can still do it. It’s about believing in myself. That’s all I was trying to do, and it worked.”

He added: “My form this year has been terrible. I was hitting averages below 80 at times, and it’s only in the past month that I’ve been playing some better darts.

“I know if I can put the