“I pulled a muscle in my leg, I was in a bit of pain” – Andrew Gilding overcomes freak injury to fire 106 average at Poland Darts Open

Andrew Gilding reached the second round of the Poland Darts Open in impressive fashion. The Englishman battled back from an early 3-0 deficit against Jeffrey de Graaf in Krakow and eventually claimed a 6-3 victory.

With an average of 106.55, ‘Goldfinger’ showed he could produce his best darts at exactly the right moment.

Remarkably, that performance did not come without physical issues. Gilding stepped up to the oche carrying a painful muscle problem sustained shortly before the match.

“I’m not sure where that came from. Just before I hit the bull in the practice room, I pulled a muscle in my leg, so I was in a bit of pain. I thought it was going to affect me a bit, but obviously it didn’t,” Gilding said afterwards to Tungsten Tales.

For a long time, the match appeared to be heading in a completely different direction. De Graaf started strongly and immediately put Gilding under heavy pressure. The Swede opened with a 15-darter, extended his lead to 2-0 and then fired in back-to-back maximums before sealing a 12-darter to make it 3-0. It looked as though Gilding was heading for an early exit.

But the Englishman remained calm, found his rhythm and punished his opportunities. A 108 finish got him on the board, followed by a 100 checkout to level the match. From that point on, he had taken full control. A 64 finish secured the break and the lead, after which Gilding closed out the contest professionally, finishing with a 106.55 average.

Despite the convincing numbers, Gilding was still feeling the injury after the match.

“Yeah, it’s a little bit sore, but I’ll keep it if I play like that,” Gilding assessed with a smile.

With form like that and confidence clearly intact despite the physical setback, Gilding now moves into the next round carrying serious momentum, having already shown he can withstand both scoreboard pressure and discomfort on the big stage.