Wigan thrower on board with home comforts during lockdown!

The Wigan thrower is one of 101 Tour Card Holders who registered an interest in playing in the Unibet Home Tour Groups.

Players take part from home, with their throws being recorded by a mobile camera, and the games being streamed around the world for free via the PDC website.

Atkins picked up a second-place finish in his opening grouping, with a third-placed finish in his second outing – both times winning two of his three matches, and having beaten the eventual victor in the round-robin process.

For Atkins, it’s been an even more rollercoaster year than most.

After winning his tour card for the first time through the Robin Park qualifiers in January, he saw his opportunity of taking part in the money-spinning events against the elite quickly scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic – and subsequent lockdown.

“It’s been a strange year, all this has come at the wrong time for me,” said Atkins, brilliantly nicknamed ‘Tuther’, on account of having a far more established namesake on the circuit.

“After winning my card, I’d just had a really good run in the UK Open, and my game is all about confidence.

“I had so much momentum and confidence, and all of a sudden there’s no more tournaments!

“On the plus side, I’m probably getting more practice in than I used to – because I’ve got more time during the week.

“It’s obviously not the same as ‘tournament darts’, but I’ve found I’ve been throwing better darts than I usually would in practice.”

“It’s been great, it’s given us all something to look forward to.

“It’s strange throwing darts from your house, and knowing people are watching around the world.

“The board’s in the kitchen, it’s been there for 20 years so I’m comfortable.

”And you soon forget the pressure...I was more nervous doing the interviews after!”

The 32 group winners from the Unibet Home Tour will now go through to the latter stages, which kicks-off on Tuesday (May 26) and culminates on June 5.

Among those through are Rob Cross – the 2018 PDC world champion – Glen Durrant, Nathan Aspinall, St Helens pair Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting, Canada’s Jeff Smith and Australia’s Damon Heta.

Group Two winner Luke Woodhouse also created history with a nine-darter in his kitchen last month as he powered past Gerwyn Price, the former rugby league professional, with the performance of the tournament to date.