Fitton on passing of darting legend Fordham: "That hit me really bad"

Darryl FItton defended his MAD England National title at the Contender Series Finals in a decider win over RIcky King as he looks to get his competitive edge back which he admits went with the hip replacement and the following events.

"To get me back into playing because obviously three years ago I had the hip replacement and then the demise of the BDO and then Coronavirus. I've gone from 20 years travelling all over the place virtually every weekend to nothing and it's been hard to get back into it. I feel I can still play good darts.

He also discussed the passing of the darting legend Andy Fordham and how he needs to put practice in but events recently haven't helped.

"I need to practice, I haven't been practicing. Obviously a few days for me and Andy Fordham died last week, that hit me really bad. A friend had a heart attack but that's life and you've got to get on with it."

'The Dazzler' also admitted that with the BDO fiasco towards the end that he came close to packing it in all together but was driven by his work with Target's Elite 1 programme.

"It really did hit me for six because they'd just moved to a new venue for the World Championship and looking at it, it was a great venue and then also it sort of all died. People weren't being honest and I didn't want to play anymore. I felt like packing it in but I was working for Target at the time and looking after the young players gave me a boost."