ANDO BATTLES THROUGH ILLNESS AGONY IN MINEHEAD

GARY ANDERSON admits he dragged himself off his sickbed to compete in Minehead after an illness wiped out his Grand Slam campaign.

‘The Flying Scotsman’ still produced a sharp display to beat Mario Vandenbogaerde 6-2 after averaging 97 and smashing in four 180s in the opening round of the Players Championship Finals.

World No14 Anderson failed to reach the Grand Slam knockout stages for the first time in 18 appearances, suffering group defeats to Michael van Gerwen and Niko Springer.

Anderson says his sore throat was so bad he could hardly swallow, let alone focus on competing.

He said: “I’ve been in bed since Wolverhampton so it went alright. I’d still come here if I was on my death bed.

“I don’t know if I have actually died and this is hell!

“I played really well against Beau [Greaves] — I had to. Michael, I was alright. I did the other gigs for the boys on Monday.

“I went, ‘I’m not right, I’m not feeling well.’ Tuesday I could not swallow.

“I had a couple of cups of coffee in the practice room — I couldn’t get them down my throat. My throat was in absolute bits.

“I had sweats and a sore head but it was just one of those things.

“I’ve had a good run end of.”

Two-time world champ Anderson also confessed darts has slipped down his list of priorities as life away from the oche takes over.

He added: “I’d like to put more time into it. Darts has always been a hobby to me — I don’t care what anyone says.

“I really don’t practice. I’ve not got time to play darts at this moment of my life. I have so much going on, darts is down the ladders, it’s as simple as that.

“If I need to get back there I need to put 100 percent in. At this moment I’ve not got 100 percent.”

Anderson hasn’t lifted a TV event crown since the Champions League of Darts back in 2018.

But Ando has flourished on the ProTour picking up the Players Championship 7 and European Darts Grand Prix titles this campaign.

The 54-year-old also reached the quarter-final of the World Grand Prix in October before falling 3-1 to Danny Noppert.

Image by Taylor Lanning.