European Championship Darts: Peter Wright beats James Wade to claim another major darts title

Peter Wright added the European Championship title to the World Championship crown he won on New Year's Day, beating James Wade in Sunday night's final after a dominant weekend.

Snakebite averaged more than 100 in each of his five matches, culminating in a dominant performance that saw him too strong for 2018 champion Machine who was bidding for a second European Champion title in three years.

However, it was Wright that prevailed, averaging 104 in an 11-4 victory over The Machine to pick up the £120,000 winners cheque, retake second sport in the world rankings from Gerwyn Price and become the 10th player to win three televised PDC ranking titles.

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"I'm delighted to win, it's great for me and it was good to have the fans here," said Wright who claimed his fifth title of the year.

"It's the first final I've got to in the event, I've had a couple and managed to win it. I struggled in the semi-final, it was probably my toughest match and I couldn't get going but I got away with it.

"James has won this before and is a quality player, so to get the win I'm really happy. He can reel off legs so you've got to try and keep him at bay, and luckily enough I did."

After kicking off with a 6-3 win over Gabriel Clemens on Thursday, Wright won a blockbuster second-round clash with Gerwyn Price before adding the scalps of Steven West and Jonny Clayton to reach the final.

The world champion, seeded 15th as a result of playing just two of the four European Tour events this season, had opted against playing the final European Tour two events over the last fortnight and believes that may have been crucial in his dominant weekend's work

"It was good to have a little rest and recharge the batteries, I knew what I needed to do to prepare for this.

"Everyone's different but it worked for me. I believe I can be more consistent and I will be playing a lot better than that. I think I can hit some big averages.

"I feel good with my darts and with the way I'm standing but I think I can get better."

Wade returned to form in style in Oberhausen with wins over Steve Lennon, Nathan Aspinall and William O'Connor seeing him into a semi-final with Devon Petersen where he came from 8-6 down to win a last leg decider.

Non-stop darts as truncated season comes to a close

Over the next four weeks, a relentless schedule will close the PDC and finalise the field for this year's World Championships which remain scheduled for Alexandra Palace in mid-December.

On Friday the World Cup of Darts gets underway in Salzburg, while next Monday is the Grand Slam of Darts qualifier ahead of the final five days of Pro Tour action with the five-day Winter Series representing a last chance for many to secure their Tour card for next season.

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You can follow the action on Sky Sports with all six sessions across three days of the World Cup live, followed by nine days of Grand Slam of Darts action from Coventry, which begins on Monday November 16.

Following the Grand Slam, the action remains in Coventry with three days of Plays Championship Finals action and then the final qualifier for the World Championship.

Sky Sports Darts will keep you across all the action as the season reaches its climax. As well as all the action, The Darts Show podcast will catch up with all the players, discuss the talking points and get expert opinion from former world no 1 Colin Lloyd.

Don't miss a dart at this weekend's World Cup of Darts - the action gets underway from 12pm on Friday on Sky Sports Arena and we will have all six sessions as the new champions are crowned.