Portela on challenges around PDC World Darts Championship qualification: "By the end of the trip, I had been travelling for over 24 hours"

Diogo Portela sealed a fifth successive appearance at the PDC World Darts Championship after breezing through the Central & South America qualifier in Costa Rica.

Portela being based in the UK of course had to travel over there and he discussed the challenges around that.

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"It was a challenge to be honest because my trip was scheduled to go through Miami but Miami closed the borders so I had to get three flights. By the end of the trip, I had been travelling for over 24 hours. No sleep and it was quite tiring, I was glad I went there four or five days before the tournament. So I managed to get some rest and of course the time difference being seven hours to the UK, it was quite difficult to get my body working in their time," said Portela to Weekly Dartscast.

"I managed to do everything right and I actually played some really good darts over the weekend."

He also spoke on the pressure on being the standout player at the qualifier but Portela believed his form didn't really warrant it.

"To be honest, this year is when I potentially put less pressure on myself because I knew I wasn't playing at the top of my game. I wasn't doing well, I didn't get decent results. But I also know I was working really hard to get my game to where it belonged."