"It's going to take someone special to beat me": Smith full of confidence after whitewash win in PDC World Darts Championship opener
PDC
Last year's beaten finalist, Michael Smith got off to the perfect start at the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship by completing a whitewash victory over 22-year-old Nathan Rafferty.
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Despite averaging 96.62, the highest of the tournament so far, Bully Boy was playing it cool in a post match interview with Sky Sports' Polly James. "I don't think I played that well," Smith said. "I played okay but Nathan struggled up there and I had to take advantage." Rafferty who impressively defeated Jermaine Wattimena on his Ally Pally debut on opening night, couldn't replicate his form from that match and sadly for the Northern Irishman, failed to even win a leg vs Smith.
Coming into the World Championships as one of the pre-tournament favourites, Smith finally managed to get across the finish line in a major tournament at the Grand Slam of Darts in November and will now be hoping to go one step further than last year, when for the second time in his career he came up short in the World Championship final. "I think everyone knows if I'm competing and playing well it's going to take someone special to beat me," Smith proclaimed.
Refusing to be drawn into making any wild predictions, Smith said "I'm not going to say 'yeah I'm going to win this' I just want to compete so who knows." Next up for Bully Boy is either Martin Schindler, Martin Lukeman or Japan's Nobuhiro Yamamoto.
Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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