Gary Anderson: darts champ who cannot see the board

Scot overcomes shortsightedness to join select band who have beaten Phil Taylor in finals

LAST UPDATED AT 13:21 ON MON 5 JAN 2015

Darts has a new champion after Gary Anderson beat Phil Taylor in the PDC World Championship final in a "thrilling finale" to the tournament at Alexandra Palace.

The shortsighted Scot showed "tremendous mental strength" to hold off the 16-time champion and win 7-6 says the Daily Telegraph. He becomes is only the fourth person to have beaten 'The Power' Taylor in 20 world title deciders.

Anderson had to overcome bad luck, a hostile crowd and an opponent who refused to roll over, says The Times, as Taylor twice recovered from two sets down before losing the deciding set. At one stage, after taking a 5-3 lead, Anderson registered a no-score when his third dart knocked the first two out of the treble 20 bed and all three came to rest on the carpet.

The contest was up there with some of the greatest matches in history, claims the paper, including Taylor's final defeats to John Part in 2003 and Raymond van Barneveld in 2007, both of which also ended 7-6. The final had "more twists and turns than the River Thames" and "produced throwing of the highest order on a night of nerve-jangling tension".

It was a "monumental feat of concentration and stamina", agrees the Daily Mirror.

Even more remarkable is the fact that Anderson can barely make out the targets on the board, says The Guardian. "Anderson, who lost his only previous final against Adrian Lewis in 2011, has become increasingly short-sighted in recent years but is unwilling to do anything to rectify the problem," explains Barry Glendenning.

Before the tournament he even admitted he had trouble reading the scoreboard, let alone spotting the treble and double beds.

Wearing glasses would force the 44-year-old to rebuild his throwing action and the Scot has a phobia of contact lenses. He has also ruled out laser surgery.

"He now throws largely from memory, aiming at a variety of minuscule red and green blurs," writes Glendenning. · 

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