Wade on tropical conditions at World Cup of Darts: "Felt like it was 50 degrees inside"

James Wade was involved with Michael Smith last weekend in the World Cup of Darts and compared conditions in Frankfurt to those that the England team will face in Qatar at the football version as part of his View from the Oche column with Daily Star.

"Over the last few years a lot has been made of the potential impact of blazing hot temperatures at the World Cup. But I always thought they meant in Qatar for the football, not Frankfurt for the darts," he said to The Daily Star.

"If you were wondering whether it was truly as hot as the players’ faces were making it look then the answer is no, it was way hotter! It was about 38 degrees outside the arena and felt like it was about 50 degrees inside. I certainly struggled with everything from concentration to sweaty hands and I have nothing but admiration for the guys that dealt with it best, including my own partner Michael Smith.

"Michael was great throughout the tournament and it was a pleasure to play with him, I just wish we could have gone all the way. That said, I would like to offer huge congratulations to the Australians, who performed brilliantly and deserved a victory that was all the more poignant for the dedications that were made to our former colleague Kyle Anderson, who passed away last year."

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Using time effectively when at home

As one of the PDC elite who is involved in most of the top World Series events as well as the World Cup and European Tour including this weekend in Amsterdam for the former, he spoke about burn-out and spending time at home effectively.

"Talking of heat, this is certainly a time of year that I have to try and avoid burn-out. I have been on the road now for 20 of the last 25 days, and I head off again this weekend to the Dutch Masters. The schedule is packed at the moment and, with my wife expecting our second child and my little boy Arthur growing up very fast, I do pine for home sometimes," he added.

"When I am back, I try to make the most of our time together by ensuring that I go on the school run and organising activities that we can do together. I am a very keen fisherman and I am delighted to say that I have recently introduced Arthur to the sport and he seemed to have taken to it like, well, a fish to water (or a boy to fishing). He is desperate to go again so it looks like this is going to form part of my routine when I have time off, which is something I will really look forward it."