PETER WRIGHT contemplated walking away from the oche FOREVER during the height of his Premier League woes.
The two-time world champion endured a nightmare two-year run in the competition – in which he won just two of 18 matches – and looked like a shell of his former self.
Wright, however, has rediscovered his old form in recent months and produced a vintage display on Sunday night to dump defending PDC World champ Luke Humphries out of the tournament.
The Scot was overcome with emotion following the sensational win, after which he revealed the depths of the despair.
He said: “I know I can beat the likes of Humphries and [Luke] Littler but those two guys also inspire me to carry on playing darts.
“I’m not ready to go to the senior side yet, because I know I can still play this game.
“I knew I still had it in me to compete against the best players in the world.
“I’ve said in the Premier League when, over the past two years been getting battered by these guys and wondering why I’m here.
“Why they picked me and stuff like that when I don’t seem to perform for the crowd there. It’s really strange and it’s annoying.
“[After losing to] Michael van Gerwen, I was in tears last year.
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“He said, ‘You don’t want to do it anymore, do you?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.
“‘Maybe I don’t, maybe I do. But I’m not gonna give up.’ And that’s the main thing.”
Wright’s 4-1 win over Humphries – which booked him a spot in the quarter-finals – came as a surprise to many, but not to the man himself.
He said: “I felt confident playing Luke over the shorter distance.
“If I didn’t beat him in this round here, he would have retained his title, because I don’t think any other player would have got close to him over a longer distance.
“Luke wasn’t quite in the same form as he was last year.
“He was untouchable last year – 100-plus averages all the time. You didn’t want to play Luke last year.
“This year he’s getting wins and getting through the big games with 98, 99, something like that.
“I thought if he turns up and throws 98, I’ve got a chance.
“If he turned up like the Luke of last year, he would have bashed me off the board.”
