Kevin Painter vows to battle on despite dartitis struggle
Kevin Painter insists he is “determined” to overcome dartitis and will continue to compete on the World Seniors circuit.
The former Players Champion has been suffering with the dreaded condition – which affects a player’s ability to release a dart – in recent months.
Painter had completed a hypnotherapy course ahead of the BetGoodwin World Seniors Matchplay in a bid to combat the problem, but visibly struggled with his throw on stage at the York Barbican.
The Artist was beaten 8-3 by Canada’s David Cameron in Friday’s opening round, though he landed a magnificent 156 checkout in the process.
“In the practice room I was fine,” Painter told TNT Sports. “There was an outside chance it could have flared up but I didn’t expect it.
“It was a little bit worse than I thought but there was no way I was going to give up.
“It’s just one of those things I have to battle through.
“I wanted to carry on, I had some good moments in the game, I missed a few doubles so it could have been slightly tighter but when you can’t get in any rhythm at all then it’s a struggle.
“I was hoping it was going to go a bit better than that.
“It had disappeared for month. I’d been doing a course of hypnotherapy for two months and it [dartitis] went.
“Just over the last few days I’d had a couple of stutters here and there, and obviously as you saw on the stage there was another reaction to it.”
Painter is due to compete in the World Seniors Masters in Sunderland from November 8-9 and is optimistic he can overcome the issue, which notably affected Eric Bristow in the latter part of his career.
The 57-year-old added: “You’ve just got to carry on.
“You try not to panic but your brain is not in control of what you’re doing.
“I thinking ‘throw’ and my brain is telling me ‘don’t throw’, it’s a really weird thing.
“Just throwing a dart at the board is the easiest thing in the world to do and when you’re struggling like that, it’s not good.
“Eventually I get it out of my hand and it goes exactly where I’m aiming it.
“Throwing at the top of the board is more of a problem, that’s why I was going for the 19s first to just get me going, then moving back up to the top of the board.
“The top of the board is the problem getting your arm to go up high enough to release the dart.
“I’ll just carry on doing what I’m doing, I have audio tapes to listen to and I will carry on and it will go, the sooner, the better.
“I’m determined to get through it.”
𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 🎨
Despite visibly struggling with his throw, Kevin Painter produces a sensational 1️⃣5️⃣6️⃣ checkout 👏🏻@betgoodwinuk | #WorldSeniorsMatchplay pic.twitter.com/HlyLtKLxwk
— Live Darts (@livedarts) October 4, 2024