Peter Wright was all choked up after beating Jermaine Wattimena in the third round of the World Darts Championship – but not in the way you might expect.

The scale of Wright’s achievement was certainly worth getting emotional about. Casting aside a torrid 2024 season, ‘Snakebite’ seems to have found form at the perfect time, averaging just over 96 at the Alexandra Palace to send in-form Wattimena packing.

But his struggle to string a sentence together was actually due to a nasty cough he had been battling throughout the match. Wright choked and spluttered during his tame on-stage celebration, and Sky Sports host Abigail Davies cut their post-match interview short out of sympathy.

When asked to dissect his 4-2 win, Wright joked: “Obviously, Jermaine felt sorry for me.” He added: “It wasn’t affecting my darts, holding my breath. Hopefully I feel a little bit better [in the next round].”

That was all the 54-year-old could muster before he disappeared backstage to conduct the rest of his media duties.

Friday night’s brief encounter was not the first time this tournament that Davies has been left with little to work with. She was on the microphone when Joe Cullen answered three questions with a total of 23 words as a form of protest for feeling mistreated by the media.

Cullen will not be joining Wright in the last 16 after losing an epic battle with Gerwyn Price. ‘Snakebite’, meanwhile, goes marching on despite losing five matches on the spin leading up to the tournament.

Wright was the punching bag in this year’s Premier League, and not many expected him to go far at Ally Pally – apart from the 2020 and 2022 world champion himself.

“This year I gave out all my presents, all the people that beat me it’s only down to me own self why they beat me,” he told Online Darts. “They’ve had their presents and you ain’t having no more presents. You’ve had them.

“Luke Humphries and Luke Littler drive me on as I know I can still compete with them. I actually know I can be better than them. I believe that I’ve got the game. My practice was better when I won it and I told you I was going to come and win it. I’m ready to upset Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.”

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