Liverpool darts star Stephen Bunting knocked out world number 2 Peter Wright in the Grand Slam of Darts last night (November 14).
Former BDO world champion Bunting defeated “The Snakebite” Wright 5-3 to finish second in group E and qualify for the last 16.
Three 180s in the last three legs from Bunting alongside two ton-plus checkouts of 103 and 107 proved too much for the former three-time Grand Slam finalist Peter Wright.
The “Bullet” attributed his recent success on the PDC European tour and in the Grand Slam of Darts to increasing the weight of his darts and constant practice.
Bunting. who is currently ranked 24, believes he is playing some of the best darts of his career which will allow him to break into the PDC top 16 rankings.
“My form has been really good results have been positive and just the increase in the weight of the dart and the way feel with the practice I’m putting in back home is really positive,” he said.
“I’m sure if I keep this consistency up then yeah the prize money will come, and I can push my way into the top 16 definitely.”
After missing four match darts, St Helens ace Dave Chisnall defeated American Stowe Buntz 5-4.
However, the 2014 Grand slam runner up missed out on qualification after narrowly losing his first two games 5-4 with Buntz’s wins in his first two matches proving enough to secure top spot in group E.
“Chizzy” has had excellent form on the backstage tour reaching five players championship finals since July winning the most recent.
“I’ve always said in darts you have to have luck to win in tournaments,” he said.
“Obviously I played Stephen Bunting and that he had the luck and won if I would have won that game different story, I might be talking to you now with three wins you never know.”
In other games, a 136-checkout helped UK open champion Andrew Gilding breeze past Haruki Murumatsu 5-1 to qualify into the second round and finish runner up in Group F.
“The Freeze” Danny Noppert topped Group F after edging out Brendan Nolan 5-4.
A vintage Michael Van Gerwen won an all-Dutch affair beating Martijn Kleermaker 5-4 to win Group G.
Rob Cross kept his record of qualifying out of the group stages in the Grand Slam with a 5-2 over Fallon Sherrock finishing as runner up in Group G.
Stockport’s Nathan Aspinall topped Group H despite a 5-4 loss to Ricardo Pietreckzo.
A cracking 164 and 130 checkouts from “The Heat” Damon Heta was enough to defeat women’s world number one Beau Greaves 5-4 and finish second in group H.
(Pic by PDC)
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