ASPINALL IN BAHRAIN HOSPITAL DRAMA
17/01/2025 By Phil Lanning
By Phil Lanning
NATHAN ASPINALL was involved in hospital drama at the Bahrain Darts Masters.
The Stockport star suffered severe swelling and pain due to a suspected insect bite just hours before his opening clash against Xiaochen Zong on Thursday night.
World No.11 Aspinall wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to take his place in the World Series event after a doctor’s assessment told him to hit the hospital to have his elbow checked.
He explained: “I got bit, so I was in hospital until the early hours. I woke up and it was like a balloon.
“I’m like: Oh my god, not my injury again. But I saw a doctor and he advised me to go to hospital.
“I went to hospital and, at four o clock [on Thursday], I didn’t know if I would be playing. It was that bad.
“But the tablets that I’ve been on and icing it and stuff like that, it’s kind of died down. It’s still really sore, but we’ll get through this weekend and, hopefully, it’s just a five-day thing. It was a long night.”
Aspinall ended up being TOO COLD against Zong as the place emptied during the last game of night one.
He said: “It was freezing. So cold. It’s a big arena and the more people that leave, the more space and doors open. I handled the situation well.”
Aspinall’s 6-2 win set-up a clash with World No.1 Luke Humphries and he’s confident after overcoming the adversity to win that Zong tie.
He said: “My finishing has been brilliant for the last couple of months. My scoring let me down. There’s still another 10 or 15 per cent on my scoring that needs to come into play, especially against Luke. But I’m happy, I’m getting stronger, week on week, mentally stronger.”
