Darts duo raise stink over claims of breaking wind

LONDON • Even indoor sports can lie at the mercy of the winds, as two professional darts players have amply demonstrated.

The darts world was rocked when Gary Anderson of Scotland and the Netherlands' Wesley Harms blamed each other for "rotten" farts during their clash in the Gland Slam of Darts on Friday.

Anderson, who has twice been the world champion, won the clash 10-2 to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the competition.

But, in a post-match interview, Harms said his poor form was due to Anderson breaking wind on stage and leaving a "fragrant smell".

He went further while speaking to Dutch TV station RTL7L, saying: "It'll take me two nights to lose this smell from my nose."

When Anderson in turn laid the blame at Harms' door, the Dutchman responded: "If the boy thinks I've farted, he's 101 per cent wrong. I swear on my children's lives that it was not my fault.

"I had a bad stomach once on stage before and admitted it. So I'm not going to lie about farting on stage."

World No. 4 Anderson hit back with extraordinary detail about the smell he blamed on Harms.

"It definitely came from table-side and it was eggs, rotten eggs, but not from me," Anderson said.

"Every time I walked past, there was a waft of rotten eggs so that's why I was thinking it was him. It definitely wasn't me.

"It was bad. It was a stink, then he started to play better and I thought he must have needed to get some wind out.

"If somebody has done that, he needs to see a doctor.

"Seemingly, he says it was me but I would admit it."

THE GUARDIAN

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on November 18, 2018, with the headline Darts duo raise stink over claims of breaking wind. Subscribe