Williams apologises for 'genuinely stupid' comments, Gurney bows out

Scott Williams has apologised for his "genuinely stupid" comments during an on-stage interview at the World Championship on Wednesday as Daryl Gurney bowed out of the tournament.

Williams courted controversy after joking about England winning "two World Wars and one World Cup" following his third-round win over German Martin Schindler.

He followed that victory up with a 4-1 win over 10th seed Damon Heta on Saturday afternoon to make a first-ever quarter-final at Alexandra Palace.

'Shaggy', who received backlash to his insensitive comments, was regretful about his interview on Sky Sports.

He said: "I was advised to come off social media, just X, what I said in the last interview on stage was stupid, genuinely stupid. The guys from Germany know I love Germany.

"My deepest apologies to anyone who took offence, I have had a lot of messages from people who haven't taken offence, but that has gone now and I am looking forward to Monday."

He let his darts do the talking in a ruthless performance against Australian Heta, which included a 170 checkout.

The showman was also conducting the crowd before he threw his match-winning dart, which set up a last-eight tie with Michael van Gerwen.

He added: "That is very good. I can't say too much because I will get myself in trouble.

"Michael? Michael, yeah I have heard of him. I am really looking forward to it, he is a completly different gravy to everyone else in the competition. I am just going to go up there and throw darts and if they go in they go in."

Daryl Gurney's interest in the competition after he was beaten 4-2 by Dave Chisnall.

Rob Cross is into his first quarter-final at Ally Pally since winning the title on debut in 2018 after a 4-0 demolition of Jonny Clayton.

Cross, who now plays