Scott Williams says sorry for ‘World War and World Cup’ comments

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Scott Williams has apologised for his “genuinely stupid” comments during an on-stage interview at the World Championship on Wednesday.

Williams courted controversy after joking about England winning “two World Wars and one World Cup” following his third-round win over German Martin Schindler.

He followed that victory up with a 4-1 win over 10th seed Damon Heta on Saturday afternoon to make a first-ever quarter-final at Alexandra Palace.

‘Shaggy’, who received backlash to his insensitive comments, was regretful about his interview on Sky Sports.

He said: “I was advised to come off social media, just X, what I said in the last interview on stage was stupid, genuinely stupid. The guys from Germany know I love Germany.

“My deepest apologies to anyone who took offence, I have had a lot of messages from people who haven’t taken offence, but that has gone now and I am looking forward to Monday.”

He let his darts do the talking in a ruthless performance against Australian Heta, which included a 170 checkout.

The showman was also conducting the crowd before he threw his match-winning dart, which set up a last-eight tie with Michael van Gerwen.

He added: “That is very good. I can’t say too much because I will get myself in trouble.

“Michael? Michael, yeah I have heard of him. I am really looking forward to it, he is a completly different gravy to everyone else in the competition. I am just going to go up there and throw darts and if they go in they go in.”

Rob Cross is into his first quarter-final at Ally Pally since winning the title on debut in 2018 after a 4-0 demolition of Jonny Clayton.

Cross, who now plays Chris Dobey, is enjoying his best season for a number of years and showed he is a contender for the title after throwing a 98.41 average against the Welshman.

That would have been higher had he not missed six match darts to get over the line.

He said on his on-stage interview: “I thought I needed a new pair of pants!

“I feel for Jonny he never really turned up, he is the nicest guy I have ever met. I was controlled and ruthless, I wanted to get through it. I managed to get it done and on to the next one.”

Dave Chisnall is into a third quarter-final after he beat Daryl Gurney 4-2.