Pandemic can't stop darts - and St Leonard's ace is going for PDC glory

But one game that has been taking place during the pandemic, albeit not quite as we know it, is darts - and a player from St Leonards has been involved in the action.

In marked contrast to the packed venues and vocal crowds that have become synonymous with modern-day elite-level darts, players have been performing from their homes in the Professional Darts Corporation's (PDC) first ever home-staged event.

The Unibet PDC Home Tour has given all PDC Tour Card holders the opportunity to play competitive darts in preparation for a return to normal action, whenever that may be, with matches brought to fans worldwide through live video calls.

The competition has begun with 32 nights of league action and the winners of each group advance to the second phase. Four players battle it out each night, with matches played over the best of nine legs.

Local man Adrian Gray lined up in group six last Wednesday alongside world number eight James Wade, recent Players Championship event winner Ryan Searle and Andy Boulton.

The 39-year-old Gray ended up bottom of the group after losing all three of his matches 5-2, the last of them to group winner Searle, who recorded an impressive 103.3 average against him.

Gray - who beat the great Phil Taylor en route to the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Grand Prix - regained his Tour Card via the Q-School Order of Merit in January 2019. His best result last year was reaching the semi-finals of Players Championship 20.

The PDC's ranked events in May and June will now not take place as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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