Wright beats Van Gerwen to triumph in Germany

Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright continued his recent positive form by clinching the HappyBet German Darts Championship title with a 6-3 win over Michael van Gerwen in yesterday’s final.

The Mendham thrower had earlier been taken all the way by another Dutchman — Christian Kist — in his opening fixture on Saturday, but dropped only two legs in each of his wins over Stephen Bunting and Kim Huybrechts to reach Sunday’s semi-finals.

In the last four he was pitted against Gerwyn Price in what was a repeat of the Coral UK Open final earlier this month, which Wright won 11-6 to claim his first major television title.

On this occasion Price had a chance to win the match in the deciding leg, but he missed tops and Wright took full advantage to secure himself a place alongside world number one Van Gerwen in the final.

Van Gerwen beat Wright in three European Tour finals in 2016, yet this time around it was a different story.

The Scot found himself 3-2 behind at one point, but legs of 13 and 14 darts either side of a 120 finish moved him into a 5-3 lead, before he held his nerve with a 60 checkout to complete the comeback.

“My darts room last year was full of runner-up trophies. After Christmas I cleared it all and said I was going to fill it with winning ones and I’ve got two so far,” said Wright.

“The fans were amazing and a lot of it was down to them. Michael didn’t play like he can. He started off fantastically but I tried to stay with him.”

On Thursday, Wright will be back in Betway Premier League action on Thursday against Huybrechts.