Ryan Searle has reached the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship for the first time. His opponent Jonny Clayton failed several times at the checkout. After the victory, the new number seven in the world rankings addressed an emotional message to people with vision problems.
Ryan Searle was leading 2-0 in sets and 2-0 in legs in the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship when the crowd in London once again chanted obscene insults against one of the country’s leading politicians: “Keir Starmer is a Wanker” – the British Prime Minister was called a wanker.
Searle had just pulled his arrows out of the board and was spontaneously acting as a conductor as he walked to the edge of the stage. The chants could not be ignored. But it’s also possible that the visually impaired 38-year-old had no ear for the fans’ messages at that moment and was simply joining in the melody and rhythm out of his excellent mood.
At number 20 on the seeding list, everything against Jonny Clayton had been going according to the taste of “Heavy Metal”. Searle, who had not lost a set in his first four matches of this World Cup and had also beaten German number one Martin Schindler 4-0, initially held himself harmless in the quarter-finals and only lost two legs in the first three sets. In the end he won 5-2, secured prize money of at least £200,000 and jumped into the top 8 in the rankings for the first time in his career.
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This time, however, his success was primarily due to the opponent’s blatant weakness. Both scored at a largely consistent level over the seven sets. The crucial difference: Searle hit the double fields, Clayton didn’t. The Welshman had five checkout opportunities in the first three sets. He scored one goal in the first and third rounds and none at all in the second. In the fourth set it was three out of eleven, in the fifth set it was two out of nine.
Searle is aimed at people with vision problems
Only in the sixth set was Clayton able to find his usual confidence and use three of his five opportunities. At the same time, Searle’s scoring plummeted. His set average: 86.42 points. After trailing 0-1, Clayton won three legs in a row, including an 11-darter, to make it 2-4. Ultimately just a flash in the pan. In the seventh set, the number five seed no longer received a dart on the doubles. An average of 91.32 points and 57 percent on doubles were enough for Searle to win.
“That means a lot to me. None of us played particularly well. Obviously we were very nervous. But there was also a lot at stake. Forgive me for that,” Searle said: “I think my finishing under pressure was pretty good. Jonny missed a lot of doubles from the start. And that was the difference.” It is the biggest success of his career. “The semi-finals are huge and being number seven is crazy for me.”
The insults against the Prime Minister, which had already occurred several times at this World Cup and were censored by the broadcaster Sky, were no longer an issue.
Instead, Searle had another surprising message. “I have a message for the people out there,” he said in his winning interview on stage and added with a shaky voice and moist eyes: “Obviously I can’t see very well. And to everyone who plays darts and can’t see very well: ‘Don’t let it stop you!’ I want to be an inspiration to these people.”
If Lutz Wöckener Not exactly trying out any sport on his own, he writes about darts and sports politics, but sometimes also about offbeat things like football.
Darts World Cup 2026, quarter-finals, results
- Ryan Searle (ENG/20) – Jonny Clayton (WAL/5) 5:2 (3:1, 3:0, 3:1, 1:3, 3:2, 1:3, 3:0)
- Gary Anderson (SCO/14) – Justin Hood (ENG)
- Luke Littler (ENG/1) – Krzysztof Ratajski (POL)
- Luke Humphries (ENG/2) – Gian van Veen (NED/10)
