ANDO DITCHES CHAINSAW TO SAVE WORLD TITLE DREAM

By Phil Lanning

GARY ANDERSON has ditched his CHAINSAW to avoid another Ally Pally massacre and save his world title hat-trick dreams getting chopped again.

The double former champ returns to the World Championship this week a year after his hopes were cut down by a shoulder injury caused by cutting down trees.

Ando, 54, took painkillers in a bid to get by Jeffrey De Graaf but to no avail as he was smashed and his crown tilt went timber.

Now the Scot has vowed, while he continues to work on his fishing lakes in Somerset, to steer clear of the saw ahead of facing Adam Hunt on Saturday.

He revealed: “I was trying to cut through a trunk, but I was on my tiptoes with a chainsaw in one hand, stretching above.

“When we went to London, my [son] Tai went down to the practice room and I went down to get him. I’m about to throw a dart and I could not reach the bullseye. That’s about as high as I could get the dart to go. I went: ‘I’m in trouble here’.

“I usually throw up to my eye when I’m standing up, but I’ve been throwing, I’ve been having to throw on the up because sometimes it just automatically, my shoulder comes down, but hey, it’s part of the past now, I just get on with it. Keep the mouth shut and get on with it.

“I’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do at the fishing lakes and this is the time we’ve got to do it.

“Everyone thinks I go fishing all the time, but I don’t. I’ve not got time. It’s every day, seven days a week, cleaning the lakes out and we’re starting to lag behind, so we can’t wait till the Worlds is over so we can get stuck into it.

“My buddy helps me out now and again, he goes: Do not touch a chainsaw until after the Worlds.”

Anderson remains a threat at the Ally Pally. He still holds the record of the longest-winning run on the biggest stage of 17 MATCHES.

That included his title wins in 2014, 2015 and reaching the final in 2016.

But the injury setback last year meant Michael van Gerwen pulled clear of him as the man to win the most games in Ally Pally history.

His record is incredible, but he added: “I did until last year, it was an absolute disaster. I’ve been in the final now five times. So, it would be nice to get to a final again and win it, and that’s a 50 per cent record, isn’t it? Played six, won three, I’d be quite happy with that.

“But yeah, it’s the Worlds. All the year, all the tournaments we go on, that just doesn’t matter. It’s that one. That’s what every dart player wants to do. That’s what every dart player dreams, just to get on that stage and play.”

Anderson admits he doesn’t have enough time to dedicate to the sport due to family and work commitments. He also agrees with MVG who once called him a part-timer.

But he still has the hunger and fight, adding: “It cheeses me off when somebody says, you can’t do it, you’re finished. Well, what do you know about my life? You know absolutely nothing. I’ll decide when I’m finished, not you.

“So don’t tell me that I’m not going to do that. I’m still trying. Instead of just cowering away and saying, that’s my career done, I’m away now. Get up and try it. Keep going.

“What was it Van Gerwen said to me? Did he call me a part-timer? He did and I was laughing. I went: He’s not wrong. He’s totally right, so you can’t have a go at someday when he’s just…well Gary, the part-timer. He is.

“I did beat him once and I went: Not bad for a part-timer! But I have a joke and people should realise this, I don’t play a lot of darts now, but I still try my damnedest when I get up there.

“The amount of players that are going to be through in the next five years, you won’t have somebody dominating the sport because there’s going to be so many good darts players.

“We’ve seen [Gian] Van Veen, I really do like that lad. Lovely, lovely, clever kid. He’s done it the right way. Did all his qualifications, what he had to do, his exams and then he took up darts.

“A lot of kids come from school and think: Right, I’ll just play darts. It’d be nice, but it doesn’t always work out that way. So I always try to get a trade.

“I’ve always said, get a trade or something to do. Just in case it doesn’t go right. You’ve always got to have that little thing to fall back on. [Just] not chainsaws!”

Image by Taylor Lanning.