Next stop Leeds as new world champion Anderson prepares to handle the pressure

BULLSEYE: Gary Anderson celebrates after defeating Phil Taylor during the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace. Picture: John Walton/PA.

Anderson completed the greatest achievement of his career when he pipped the legendary Phil Taylor 7-6 to win the PDC William Hill World Championship at London’s Alexandra Palace.

The 44-year-old Scotsman, who pocketed a £250,000 winner’s cheque, revealed: “I am not one for thinking about what’s done – I am a bit strange that way. I don’t let things sit on my mind too much. That is done now, let’s move on to the next one.”

Anderson’s next major appearance on the oche will be at Leeds’s First Direct Arena on Thursday, February 5, when the new Premier League season kicks off.

Leeds has been chosen to host the opening round after a record 11,000 crowd turned up for the event’s first visit to the city last March and Anderson is looking forward to it. He said: “Last year in Leeds was special. Standing on stage you could feel the whole place buzzing. It was great and it’s nice to have a new venue, somewhere different.

“Being world champion just puts extra pressure on me – I am too old to have extra pressure put on,” he joked. “I am not sure how I will handle it, but if I never win another game in my life my name is on that (World Championship) trophy. I have finally done it.”