Stephen Bunting admits he was “a bag of nerves” heading into his World Grand Prix opener on Tuesday night.
The world number 11 overcame Andrew Gilding in the final match on the oche in Leicester, winning 2-1 in the double-in, double-out format. Bunting experimented with new, heavier darts and after grabbing the victory he admits they might have to stay.
“Well I’ve got to stick with them now, haven’t I?” joked the 41-year-old.
“I used them the other week in the World Series finals and I felt like I played a fantastic game against Josh (Rock) and I was unlucky to lose that game to be honest but obviously the double-in adds a lot more pressure and I’ve never thrown a double in with those darts before but I’m glad I’ve gone up in weight.
“I believe these darts are the ones for me now and with 23grams I’m going to turn into Mr Muscle!”
“I was a bag of nerves to be fair. For some reason I’ve not felt well all day. It just didn’t happen, you put a brave face on it sometimes but I’m glad to have gotten over the line thankfully. Normally I play really well and lose, today I’ve played really badly and won!”
Bunting will now face James Wade in the last-16 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, world number two Luke Humphries – favourite to win the tournament after Luke Littler’s early exit – has been clearing up an incident where he appeared to taunt a fan in the audience after clinching a routine win over Dave Chisnall.
Humphries said: “There was a couple of people in the crowd – you don’t hear it on TV – saying some real harsh things.
“When you win, you want to give it back to them. I don’t care what it looked like or what people see on TV. It’s like football, if you give it you’ve got to take it. They were saying some things and I gave it back to them in the end. It was satisfying for me and in the end, he gave me the thumbs-up and was like fair play.”
Wednesday’s second round matches, odds supplied by BOYLE Sports:
Danny Noppert (11/20) v Ryan Joyce (11/8)
Jonny Clayton (21/20) v Wessel Nijman (8/11)
Gerwyn Price (11/20) v Ross Smith (11/8)
Luke Woodhouse (6/5) v Nathan Aspinall (8/13)
