"They had to drill into my back": White reveals kidney stone agony prior to recent resurgence

Ian White as he has often said was one of the main casualties when it came to form after COVID and the rankings and was fearing for his darting future but has recently gone through a semi resurgence.

White spoke to the Weekly Dartscast in between the ProTours and European Tour this past weekend and looked back on COVID-19 and how the enforced break was the worst thing that has happened.

"It was nice and first having a few days off. We had nice weather so it was quite good but in hindsight, it was the worst thing that ever happened. They did online darts which is ok for the young kids and everyone that's into the technology but when you've got the older generation like with me, Gary Anderson. We're not into this Online Darts and it just wasn't right," said White to Weekly Dartscast.

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This also saw his ranking continue to tumble with the Order of Merit not frozen which he said affected not only him but other players who are now off the tour.

"It was very frustrating. You're sat at home, the money is coming off. You've got all these other sports in the world like football, tennis, golf and they all froze their leagues. But we didn't freeze ours. My personal view was that it wasn't fair.

"Two years down the line, there is people now that have lost their Tour Card. John Henderson is one. Andy Boulton is another due to COVID. They're fighting to earn money and get back up there."

He also missed basically all of the majors last year but said an operation on his kidney stones was more important.

"It hurt all the time. But I had an operation that year and that was more important. I needed to get that sorted and get back to playing darts. Watching everyone at the World's, Players Championship, World Grand Prix, I don't want that to happen again."

"I had kidney stones, they couldn't get it out. It was 2cm long. They had to drill into my back and get it out that way. I was in agony."