North East darts star has title ambitions after World Championship semi-final
North East darts star Chris Dobey has his sights set on a title win in 2025 after getting to the World Championship semi-final at the start of January.
Dobey had his best ever run at the World Darts Championship, getting to the semi-final, but after breaking into the world top 10, he doesn't want to stop there.
"Now I'm in the top 10, I want to be in the top eight. I don't to leave it to the last minute to be selected for the Premier League.
"I want to win things so the PDC don't find it hard to pick me [for the Premier League lineup].
"It would be nice to win the new Masters, it's the Winmau Masters now and it's ranked from this year so it would be nice to get the first one under my belt."
(Image: Zac Goodwin/PA) The Bedlington-born player lost to a rampant Michael van Gerwen in the World Championship semi-final.
"Once I got to the semis I felt great, I felt like I could do it," Dobey said.
"It was a great feeling, being in the semi-final of the greatest tournament in the world.
"So it is a great achievement for myself, but I was a little disappointed in the way I let it slip away."
Dobey lost 6-1 to three-time world champion van Gerwen in the semi-final, after emerging victorious against another former world champion, Gerwyn Price, in the quarter-final.
"It's never easy playing Michael," Dobey said.
"He's a fantastic player and he's been in many finals before and he's got that experience of knowing how to get over the line.
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"So I'll take all that as a learning curve, and hopefully we'll be back.
"But it was great to get to the semi-final and to play against a legend of the game."
(Image: Zac Goodwin/PA) Remarkably, the small Northumberland town of Bedlington became the centre of the darting world during the world championships with two of the eight quarter-finalists hailing from the town.
Dobey was joined at that round by Callan Rydz, also from Bedlington, who lost to van Gerwen too. Dobey said it was proof that it was a "small world."
"It's nice to see Callan back and throwing how he should be," Dobey said.
"But it's great for a little town like Bedlington. It shows it can be done. It's fantastic and we've had all the support from Bedlington and all the North East behind us really."
(Image: Zac Goodwin/PA) It wasn't just the support of the North East that Dobey was appreciative of, saying that the support of the Ally Pally crowd during the World Championships was the best he'd ever witnessed.
"I felt this year that the atmosphere was absolutely brilliant, it was totally different to previous years - I don't know how, but the fans seemed electric. They seemed like they were on top of you!"
Dobey is set to find out on Monday afternoon whether he will make the cut for the eight-player Premier League of Darts which tours the UK and parts of Europe across the first part of the year.
He has been widely tipped to be part of the competition which was won by Luke Littler last time out. If selected, Dobey would be the first league player from the North East since Middlesbrough's Glen Durrant took part in 2021 after spectacularly winning the competition in his debut the season before.
