Peter Wright is bidding to put a disappointing campaign behind him by returning to form at the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship.
Wright will open his challenge for a third World Championship crown against Noa-Lynn van Leuven on Monday afternoon, as he embarks on a 17th consecutive appearance at London’s Alexandra Palace.
The colourful Scot lifted the iconic Sid Waddell Trophy in 2019/20 and 2021/22 respectively, and he’s hoping to rediscover his brilliant best on the sport’s biggest stage.
“It’s been absolutely atrocious this year, but in the past few months, I have been playing really well in practice,” insisted Wright, who is currently ranked 30th on the PDC Werner Rankings Ladder.
“There is no chance of me giving up. I’m hitting nine-darters in practice, with loads of different set-ups.
"If I can do that, then it’s just transferring it onto the main stage and it would be nice for it to all click together and turn up at Ally Pally.
“Especially with the new £1 million cheque - to be the first one to take that home, that would be amazing and to become three-time Scottish World Champion on top of that - that would be the icing on the cake.”
Wright is one of only six players to win multiple PDC World Championship titles, and he memorably ended Luke Humphries’ reign as World Champion with a vintage display at Alexandra Palace 12 months ago.
The 55-year-old has not featured in a televised ranking quarter-final since then, although he’s hoping the support of his adoring fans at Alexandra Palace can inspire him to further glory.
“When you first pick up a dart, that’s what you want to be, the World Champion," continued Wright.
"It doesn’t matter in what sport, when you start, you want to be the best of the best, and this is the tournament for it.
“Hopefully this is going to inspire all youngsters that are not even involved in the game yet. They might think: “I could get into darts maybe and see how my career goes, become a future World Champion, and take home one million pounds!”
“It’s an amazing atmosphere there and the crowd make it. They’re there, they love the darts. If you can’t get up for that and get nerves and good feelings, then you should probably retire!”
The 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).