Peter Wright shut-up to the shouters as he surged into day two at the Bahrain Darts Masters.
Snakebite shushed the loudmouths as he forged beyond Alexis Toylo. Crowds chants during his throws in the latter stages of the contest upset Wright’s rhythm as he let a commanding 5-1 lead be reduced by two. However, Wright had the perfect riposte amid the hollering with a blistering 160 finish to seal a 6-3 win.
Upon hitting the winning shot, Wright turned to the gobs, put a shush finger to his lips and signalled with a hand to keep traps shut. Wright said: ”Obviously, the crowd got my back up there. I don’t know if they were supporting me or not supporting me. If they were supporting me, they were supporting me at the wrong time. Every time I was throwing. I’m going deaf in my old age as well. So I don’t know if they were being nice or not.”
Wright also had to overcome the phantom flinger and flying chalk. Toylo’s slug-like play and odd characteristics were the talk of the World Championship at the Ally Pally.
The Philippines star took forever to throw, did constant fresh air practice swings and scattered chalk all over his clobber, fingers and the board. Toylo was exactly the same against Wright as he maintained his in-match rituals.
But Wright had too many guns and was not put off by the unusual approach and techniques of his rival as he moved into the quarter-finals. He said: “Everyone’s got their own technique of throwing. It’s not as if he’s done it on purpose or anything like that. I just found it difficult.”
Snakebite, who is aiming for a big 2025 after a poor 2024 ended with improve form a last-eight run at the Worlds, was impressive in his 6-1 success. Wright produced signs of his best form as he secured a meeting with Toylo’s compatriot Paulo Nebrida in the quarter-finals.
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