The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions5. Michael Smith – Age 24
‘Bully Boy’ Michael Smith is seen as the next man in line to join the list of young world champions as he continues to work his way up the rankings, sitting just outside the top 10 after what can only be described as an amazing few years on the PDC circuit.
Smith found the game by accident, when an injury forced him to miss school and he picked up his 1st set of darts whilst away from education. The natural talent was obviously there from the outset as he was soon hitting 180s for fun and he chose to pursue a career in the sport.
By 2012, Smith was a full-time professional on the PDC circuit and by then had already knocked up some decent results on the floor as well as in the majors, particularly the UK Open. In 2013 he won the PDC Under-21 World Championships, defeating Ricky Evans 6-1 in the final and since then he has gone from strength to strength.
The natural talent is obvious for all to see and at the young age of 24, Smith’s plans will be firmly on how to hone his skills ready for the TV events, which at times he has struggled to master. He has the most ability of all, and five floor tournament wins on the main tour shows he is ready and it’s not just about consistency. We expect Michael Smith to be a multiple world champion as his career continues to go from strength to strength and could be MVG’s challenger down the line for darting supremacy.
