"I'd pick Lakeside, I've already committed to it" - Raymond Smith firm on World Championship plans

The PDC recently announced the first edition of the Australian Premier League in October and November. For the winner, a ticket to the upcoming World Darts Championship awaits. One of the players who will be in action is Raymond Smith.

Smith, nicknamed "Guru," already has a lot of experience in the world of darts. The 45-year-old Australian has played at both the PDC and BDO World Championships in the past. Especially at the PDC World Championship, he made a name for himself when he reached the fourth round as an unseeded player in 2022, eventually losing to Mervyn King by only the smallest of margins.

In total, he already made three appearances at the PDC World Championship. At the BDO, it was only one appearance, when he lost 3-0 to Geert De Vos in the opening round in 2017. Smith is currently focusing mainly on the WDF circuit, where he is currently 17th in the world rankings.

Smith is very clear when it comes to his plans for the rest of the year. "There's no point playing in the kind of event if I can't take the prize at the end of it. I've been on a two-year plan, it's been my focus to go back to Lakeside and try and push myself and get my game back to that point," he said to Online Darts.

"I'm two years into a four year plan, I can't just throw that away now. So I've got that weighing up in the back of my mind."

If he qualified through the Australian Premier League for Ally Pally, he was pretty clear in his choice. "I'd pick Lakeside, I've already committed to it. If I want to go back and get the Tour Card, it takes a lot of planning to do it from Australia so I can't just throw the plan out of the window now. I've got commitments, I've got all my plane tickets booked. To add an extra 20 days of annual leave, accommodation, food, it's either I'm cancelling flights and costing myself a fortune."

"It's part of the plan. People don't realise it's a lot of work, I've got mortgages to set up and jobs to put on hold. You've got to have contingency plans. People say you've got to back yourself but you've got to be a realist. It's very easy to derail yourself and come with an alternative."

Another notable fact by the way, in 2022 Raymond and his son Ky Smith were the earlier father-son duo to both be in action at the PDC's World Darts Championship.