BULLY BOY POWERS THROUGH! Michael Smith makes light work of Nathan Rafferty, winning nine legs out of nine to reach round three. #WCDarts | R2 📺 bit.ly/WC23Live
"It's going to take someone special to beat me": Smith full of confidence after whitewash win in PDC World Darts Championship opener
PDCSaturday, 17 December 2022 at 10:00
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.
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.
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- Oh, dear... how will we cope now?MrYnyslas197122-11-2024
- They really are going through an insipid spell - at present.MrYnyslas197122-11-2024
- Well done Mike – good to move on and look to the future. With his talent, and increasing confidence on stage, he'll be a force to be reckoned with in the month ahead.
UndartedWaters22-11-2024 - It's called talent and good on him.medinabello21-11-2024
- There are 30 Players Championship rounds to play first throughout the year and you have to be in the top 64 to get to the finals. This is probably the hardest Major to win as its the top 128 players at each event or the top ranked Challenge Tour players if any tour card holders drop out.Mysstree20-11-2024