Michael Smith defeats Gary Anderson from 5-1 down in thrilling final to claim Players Championship 13 victory
PDCMonday, 12 June 2023 at 19:12
Michael Smith has claimed the title at Players Championship 13, defeating Gary Anderson in a thrilling final in Hildesheim, Germany.
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The reigning world champion had reached the final after wins over Richard Veenstra (6-4), Andy Boulton (6-4), Keegan Brown (6-1), James Wade (6-3), Danny Lauby (6-4) and Connor Scutt (7-3).
In the final against Anderson, Smith had to chase throughout the match. His Scottish opponent led 5-1, but with four legs in a row, Smith fought his way back into the match. It was then 7-7 before the 'Bullyboy' took victory with a 15-darter.
It is the fourth title of the season for Smith. Earlier this year, the Englishman won the World Darts Championship, the Bahrain Darts Masters and the German Darts Grand Prix. In total, Smith now stands at 26 PDC titles.
Players Championship 13
Last 16
Danny Lauby 6 | 4 Ricardo Pietreczko
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Michael Smith 6 | 3 James Wade
Christian Perez 6 | 3 Karel Sedlacek
Connor Scutt 6 | 3 George Killington
Chris Dobey 6 | 4 William O'Connor
Gary Anderson 6 | 1 Raymond van Barneveld
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Damon Heta 6 | 3 Niels Zonneveld
Gerwyn Price 6 | 1 Thibault Tricole
Quarter-Finals
Michael Smith 6 | 4 Danny Lauby
Connor Scutt 6 | 2 Christian Perez
Gary Anderson 6 | 5 Chris Dobey
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Damon Heta 6 | 4 Gerwyn Price
Semi-Finals
Michael Smith 7 | 3 Connor Scutt
Gary Anderson 7 | 3 Damon Heta
Final
Michael Smith 8 | 7 Gary Anderson
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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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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
- I think you miss the point. It is just a poll if you are willing to pay for an ad-free site. The content stays free.SheGotLegs16-08-2026
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