"I thought the live stream ended. I won't be making that mistake again!" - James Wade addresses the 'Fartgate' incident from PC22

James Wade reached the quarterfinals at the 22nd Players Championship of the year last Tuesday. Afterwards, however, all anyone could talk about was the fact 'The Machine' had let rip and audibly farted after his quarterfinal, which everyone could listen to via the livestream.

Wade had just won 6-5 over Callan Rydz in the quarterfinals. He then walked to the table and that's when everyone on the livestream could hear the sound of a particularly loud fart. The video in question then quickly circulated on social media and even made its way across the pond as the American newspaper The New York Times picked up the story.

"I have to defend myself, and I am sticking to the story that it was the velcro on my new trainers!" Wade jokingly writes in his regular column for the Daily Star. "In all seriousness, I thought the live streams for matches ended as soon as the final dart was thrown. I won't be making that mistake again! On the plus side, I am glad it seemed to brighten everyone's day and people enjoyed a bit of banter on social media afterwards."

The 41-year-old Englishman then went back to business as usual, noting that his level has been moving in the right direction in recent weeks. "My darts have actually been really good of late, and I put in some great performances across the two days in Leicester, and I have now secured my place in the World Grand Prix in October - a tournament I really fancy my chances in," he assesses happily. "There are still four events to go before then - the Swiss Open this weekend and three Players Championships in Wigan next week - so I will be using those to sharpen my game further - but this level of practice gives me a great chance of success."

Wade will take on Dimitri Van den Bergh in the first round of the Swiss Darts Trophy this weekend. The winner of that duel gets to take on fourth-seeded Gerwyn Price in the second round.