Tears of relief for Tipton's Jamie Hughes as he finally gets a World Championship win
An emotional Jamie Hughes produced a poignant victory over David Cameron at Alexandra Palace.
The Tipton darts player, nicknamed ‘Yozza’, conquered his Canadian opponent 3-1, to clinch his first win in five attempts at the World Championships at Ally Pally.
Hughes wrapped up the victory with a double eight, and fought back tears at the end of the contest.
The 37-year-old completed his switch from BDO to PDC in 2018, but has faced a frustrating journey over the past five years.
He suffered a first round defeat against Zoran Lerchbacher in 2020, and was beaten 3-0 by Adam Hunt when he entered as a second round seed in 2021.
Further defeats against Raymond Smith and Jimmy Hendriks followed in 2022 and 2023 respectively, and Hughes was relieved to have set-up a second round match-up with Pole Krzysztof Ratajski on Friday.
“It’s absolute relief, but not just relief because there’s been a lot of frustration over the year,” he admitted in his post-match press conference after an emotional victory.
“I’m probably playing the worst I have in my life and I’ve won the game, but I’ve played better and lost so it’s a mix of emotions, if that makes sense.
“I’m just so, so happy to finally get a win on that stage.
“There had to be a lot of freak results for me not to retain the card.
“That must be the first I’ve won on stage in two years easy. So there’s relief but I don’t feel like I’ve won because I didn’t perform like I wanted to perform.”
Hughes edged a nervy first set 3-2, before Cameron levelled up as the contest took on a topsy turvy theme.
The third set went down to the final leg, as Hughes punished Cameron for multiple missed darts by getting over the line with a double eight.
Hughes missed three for the match, although Cameron was unable to prolong the contest, with ‘Yozza’ producing a successful return to clinch victory.
On his second round tie, Hughes concluded: “I’m in the tournament now but you never know which Jamie is going to turn up. I wish I knew but we’ll see what happens.”
