Adrian Lewis spoke out against claims of match-fixing in his Betway Premier League match with Gary Anderson last night.
The two-time world champion won 7-2 in their meeting at the Ahoy Arena in the Netherlands yesterday, a result which ensured ‘Jackpot’ qualified for next week’s play-offs at The O2 Arena.
But just hours after booking his place in London’s finals night next Thursday, the 31-year-old was left to defend the integrity of his win on Twitter.
Lewis posted a screenshot of a direct message exchange between the official account of fellow Premier League star Peter Wright and another Twitter user, which read: “You just trying to be a big man cause you think I think I won’t be in the final. (sic)
“Well we all know that Gary will be giving Lewis a position next week don’t we. Quite a nice bet again this year. (thumbs up emoji)
“As in giving Lewis the 1 point he needs to get to the play offs. (thumbs up emoji)”
In one of several tweets which was later deleted by Lewis, the world number four posted: “I really do hope that the DRA take this seriously, nobody ever throw a game, we all practice hard to win X (sic).”
Another tweet in response to a different Twitter user read: “I work my hardest at the game mate. I don’t need people like her trying to bring me down.”
It is assumed the tweets were directed at Wright’s wife and manager Joanne, who firmly denies any accusations of match-fixing in the direct messages sent.
Mrs Wright tweeted last night: “Was deleted because it was taken out of context. Again. There was no accusations it was a sarcastic private message 2 someone slatting Pete.
“Might I add, these people have been doing it 4 about 2 years now, it’s not just a random person slatting us. Any1 who knows us knows who. (sic)”
Lewis responded by tweeting: “You still shouldn’t say that me or Gary are cheats. This is the most genuine sport out there at the minute.”
All of Lewis’ tweets posted last night were subsequently deleted this morning and as we went to press there had be no other comments made by both himself and the PDC on the matter.
“Me and Gary are not cheats – this is the most genuine sport out there”
Earlier this week it is understood that the PDPA (Professional Dart Players Association), headed by former players Peter Manley and Alan Warriner-Little, sent out an email to players on the PDC circuit reminding them to avoid any unprofessional conduct on social networking sites.
Darts is considered to be one of the cleanest sports and has very rarely been caught up in match-fixing allegations.
The most recent case was at the end of last year was with Gary Anderson, who when asked if he intentionally lost to Adrian Lewis in a Premier League match in 2011, told BBC Scotland: “Yes. I didn’t want to win a game where that happened; I thought it was a disgrace.”
Anderson quickly retracted his comments in a statement on social media saying: “I didn’t answer that question as I meant to.
“I would never intentionally lose a match, nor step on to the oche and give anything other than my best, but that night I thought the crowd behaviour was disgraceful and I lost all my motivation to win and was unable to concentrate.”
The PDC also released a statement of their own, which said: “Although we can see how Gary’s comments may have been misconstrued, we have confidence in the integrity of Gary and all our players, and would not want a slip in an interview to undermine this.”
Anderson was later fined £3,000 by the DRA (Darts Regulation Authority) for his comments made in the BBC interview.
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