“My aim is to win tournaments. Everything I play in I want to win" - Justin Hood gutted not to walk away with Sid Waddell trophy but targeting maiden PDC titles in 2026

Justin Hood is looking to take the next step in his career after a fantastic run at the PDC World Darts Championship. This involves regularly challenging at the top end of darts, competing for trophies.

The Englishman was one of the surprises of the tournaments, debuting at Ally Pally after qualifying through the Pro Tour Order of Merit. He defeated Nick Kenny before producing a huge upset against Danny Noppert. He then took down Ryan Meikle before defeating Josh Rock 4-0 in a stunning performance where he hit is first 11 doubles.

His tournament ended when he was taken down in the quarter-finals by two-time world champion Gary Anderson 5-2, who upped the gears in the closing stages to run away with it.

The darter from Glastonbury earned a whopping £100,000 for his efforts in North London, boosting him to world number 50, 36 places higher than when he entered the event. It was also a huge step in the right direction in his aspirations to own a Chinese restaurant. However, these plans may have to be put to aside for time, with him a wanted man.

“I think the money is alright, it’s just finding the time now to go through everything," he stated. “My phone and my managers phone has been going crazy. I have about twenty exhibitions booked in so I have to find some time to go through it all and we will have a look properly soon.”

Despite his incredible run, Hood never achieved his overall goal of winning the event, with the huge target he set for himself always going to be a tough challenge.

“It’s always to win the tournament. But deep down you are thinking one game at a time," he commented. “Then luckily I got through four and ran into an amazing player in Gary. I was still gutted I lost but you can’t win everything and I will be back next year hopefully.”

This is not just at the World Championship, but at any other dart event he competes that, whether it being a major tournament or a Players Championship event.

He competed in every Pro Tour event last year, making it to the quarter-final stage just once. Now more committed to the sport, 'Happy Feet' is looking to continue his progression in the sport.

“My aim is to win tournaments. Everything I play in I want to win. I have the game there to do it. I know deep down it’s not going to work like that but if I can pick up one or two ProTour events I will be over the moon,” he concluded.