WRIGHT COULD WALK AWAY FROM DARTS

EXCLUSIVE By Phil Lanning

PETER WRIGHT could be ready to “walk away gracefully” from the oche, according to top pundit Paul Nicholson.

The two-time World Champion crashed out at the Ally Pally to Arno Merk in the second round last month, wavering just 79.20.

It was a miserable display from Snakebite who has now slumped down to World No.31 in the PDC rankings.

Ex-major winner Nicholson believes the 55-year-old is facing the end of his illustrious career.

He revealed: “Talking about Peter is very difficult for me because Peter is a close friend, and I genuinely care about him.

“But it’s darts. It’s not the end of the world. But it may be the start of the end of his career in the PDC.

“Now, we’ve seen with Steve Beaton that someone can have a year where they can say ‘Right, this is going to be my last year, and then I’m going to go on and do different things’.

“Peter Wright in darts is not just going to say, I’m done. He’s not going to just walk away because he has a genuine passion for the sport.

“But it can’t be ignored that in the 2026 World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, he had his worst two averages ever in 16, 17 years.

“So sometimes you need to look in the mirror and say, ‘Am I willing to or even further than where I am right now? Am I happy with two World titles? Am I happy with what I’ve done? Or is there more in the tank? Is this just a blip?’.

“I honestly don’t know, but the one thing that worried me the most was that he was changing his darts in visits in different legs, and three different setups on the stage.

“It means that his mind was not fully focused like it was when he was winning in 2020 and 2022. And to lose to Arno Merk, who played very decent darts. That’s a game previously that Peter would have owned and easily won.”

Nicholson believes that Snakey could finally hang up the arrows in the near future.

He added: “I think my gut is saying that Peter Wright might very soon say, I’m going to have one more year and then I’m going to walk away.

“And if he does that, then everybody can glorify him for one more year and just enjoy one last yearly party. Because there’s nothing wrong with walking away gracefully.”

*Interview in association with Betway https://betway.com/gb/en/sports/cat/darts

Image by Taylor Lanning.