BACK IN THE DAY WITH: Jamie Lewis: Semi-finalist at the 2018 World Championship

In this column, we regularly go back in time with a particular darter. Today we do so with Welshman Jamie Lewis.

Jamie Lewis was born on November 8, 1991 in Carmarthen. He was already known as a huge talent from childhood, winning both the World Cup and the Winmau World Masters in 2009 at the age of 17 with the boys. A year later, he competed in the adults for the first time at the Winmau World Masters. He did extremely well there as well, only being stranded in the last 16 after a 3-2 defeat to Ted Hankey. In the WDF World Cup, he did even better with a semifinal place.

In early 2012, the then 20-year-old Lewis decided to take his chance at Q-School. On the fourth day there, he captured a PDC Tour Card. In his debut year, he immediately did well and managed to qualify for the World Darts Championship. In the preliminary round, however, he went down 4-3 against Lourence Ilagan.

In 2013, he reached the final of a PDC ranking tournament for the first time. At the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, he successively defeated Colin Osborne, Robert Thornton, Steve Brown, Kevin Painter and Adrian Lewis. In the final, Phil Taylor eventually proved too strong 6-4. He eventually ended that year in 32nd place in the world rankings.

After a mediocre 2014, where a place in the last 16 at the UK Open was his best performance, he was there again a year later. However, the year did not start well after a 3-1 defeat against James Wade in the opening round of the World Championship. But afterwards he won a Development Tour tournament and after victories against William O'Connor and Michael Smith he reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix. In that, Michael van Gerwen eventually proved too strong 3-0.

Lewis returned to the Ally Pally with the necessary confidence, but again it went wrong in the opening round, this time Daryl Gurney was 3-1 too strong. Meanwhile, he had worked his way up to second best Welshman in the world rankings. This allowed him to participate in the World Cup of Darts alongside Mark Webster, but that turned out to be a huge disappointment after a 5-3 defeat in the first round against Hong Kong.

In his fifth appearance at the World Darts Championship in 2017, there was finally some lift off for Lewis. After a win in the opening round against Mick McGowan, the monkey was finally off his back. However, the celebration did not last long because in the second round Peter Wright was too strong 4-0.

After Lewis had a weak 2017, failing to qualify directly for the World Championship. He had actually half given up hope, but still grabbed his chance through the PDPA qualifying tournament. Lewis finished third there and thus secured a place in the preliminary round of the Worlds. After victories against successively Kenny Neyens, Jonny Clayton, Peter Wright and James Richardson, he made it to the quarterfinals. And still his fairy tale was not over, because in the quarter-finals he wiped the floor 5-0 against Darren Webster. In the semifinals Phil Taylor ended his tournament 6-1 however, marking The Power's last professional victory.

A year later, he seemed on his way to repeating his World Championship performance, but at the last 16 he encountered Dave Chisnall, who proved too strong 4-0. Afterwards, Lewis experienced a serious dip in form and ultimately failed to qualify for the 2020 Worlds. With difficulty, he still retained his Tour Card, but after a catastrophic performance at the International Darts Open, where he lost 6-0 to Robert Marijanovic in the first round and only averaged 57.72, Lewis decided to take a break and focus on his personal life. He also indicated that he was struggling with anxiety disorders.

Nevertheless, he still managed to qualify for the World Championship through a win in the UK qualifying tournament, where he lost 3-2 to Gerwyn Price in the second round.

Lewis did lose his Tour Card and decided to return to the WDF in 2022, which by now had replaced the defunct BDO. That same year, he won the Antwerp Open. Partly because of this, he managed to qualify for the WDF World Championship, in the Lakeside Country Club, however, he was stranded in the opening round after a 3-0 defeat to Jarno Bottenberg.

Since then, Lewis has barely appeared in action at international tournaments. However, the Welshman is still only 32 and still has every chance of returning to the big stage one day.