For the first time in his career, Jamie Hughes came of the Ally Pally stage celebrating a win on Saturday night. Although it wasn't a vintage performance by any means, 'Yozza' had enough to see off David Cameron 3-1.
Fighting back tears on stage afterwards, Hughes was still emotional as he took to his post-match press conference. "I think I summed it up on camera then. Absolute relief but not just that, there's been a lot of frustration over the years," he explains, referencing the fact that on his four previous appearances at the PDC World Darts Championship, he's never managed to win.
"I'm probably playing the worst darts of my life but I've won the game. I've probably played better and lost so it's just mixed emotions," Hughes continues. "I'm so so happy to finally get a win on that stage and commiserations to Dave, he's a very good man, a very nice man."
One of the players who's Tour Card is potentially at risk, Hughes now looks certain to retain his place on the PDC Tour. "There had to be a lot of freak results for me not to retain the card," he explains. "That must be the first game I've won on stage in two years easy. So there's relief but I don't feel like I've won because I didn't perform like how I wanted to perform."
"People pay their hard earned money and we should be putting on a show, that's how I feel. It should be 180s galore so I'm happy with the win but I want more." In round 2, Hughes will face Krzysztof Ratajski. "I'm in the tournament now but you never which Jamie is going to turn up! I wish I knew ao we'll see what happens."
🗣️ "You never know which Jamie is going to turn up!"
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 16, 2023
We spoke to an emotional Jamie Hughes after he broke new ground on the Ally Pally stage... pic.twitter.com/9Pq1Bcpzyv