Petersen on significance of popular walk-on: "It makes me feel like I own the stage"

Devon Petersen is well known for his popular walk on which sees 'The African Warrior' dance to Waka Waka by Shakira to a raptuous reception from the crowd.

Petersen will go head to head of sorts with Dimitri van den Bergh in the dancing stakes on the opening night of the World Matchplay and he discussed the story of the walk-on and what it means to him.

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"When Barry Hearn was talking about characters. To be a character you can't act as a character, it's just ingrained in you. I genuinely like it. When you need to be serious, you need to be serious," said Petersen to Het Nieuwe 433 darts.

"The dancers were doing their routine and they had a massive mirror and as I was walking past I kind of jumped in front of them and did this body pop. The producer saw it and said can you do it on stage."

"I was literally like yeah of course, it's part of the entertainment. When I danced, I could hear the crowd roar. Almost like everybody was surprised and laughing and clapping and it was a euphoric moment.

"You know when you make your mark in a sense, it was that. I felt so comfortable on stage, I can't remember if I won or lost or whatever happened after that and since that day, every time I do the dance on stage it has a calming effect on me because it makes me feel like I own the stage.