Smith set to battle through pain barrier at Baltic Sea Darts Open: "They told me to withdraw today, I'd never do it"

Michael Smith saw off Niko Springer 6-4 at the Baltic Sea Darts Open to open up his campaign but for the World Champion and World Number One, it was one where he was noticeably struggling.

"It feels good but it also feels sore but a win is a win. I'll take it all the time and it just shows what I've been doing, I've been fighting. It does feel good to be back and doing what I can do," said Smith to Dartnyheder.dk.

He spoke about his wrist injury and said it was suddenly onset on Friday with no warning but that he never had any thoughts of not playing.

"Monday I got the flu, cold, sore throat. Played in the Premier League Thursday and when I traveled to Germany early Friday morning, I just started to get a pain in my wrist and it's just got worse and worse. Today I didn't throw a dart at all, Gerwyn Price was third on and I picked up my darts and tried to have a throw and it wasn't happening."

"Just had to put myself through the pain. I had to do it, I had to put a show on for the crowd."

He will continue to play through it and said that this is due to his role as World Champion and wants to give the fans what they've paid for.

"They told me to withdraw today, I'd never do it. I'm the World Champion, I've got to put on a show."