‘Rapid’ Ricky Evans Victim of Brutal Attack

One of the PDC’s finest young prospects was the victim of a unprovoked attack on his way home from a game of snooker yesterday.

Ricky Evans, known as ‘rapid’ due to his quick throwing action, sustained a black eye and heavy bruising after the sinister and cowardly assault. The culprit has yet to be identified.

Evans took to his twitter account this afternoon, thanking his followers for their messages of support, assuring them that while he is still in pain, he is on the road to recovery…….

“I’d like to thank everyone for their tweets and messages, still in a bit of pain but I’m getting there. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let one ‘idiot’ change me, I’m still the weird, rapid kid who loves a bit of banter, but thanks again.”

The 24-year-old Kettering ace burst on to the scene in 2013, reaching the World Youth Championship Final, where he lost 6-1 to Michael Smith, in front of a capacity crowd at the O2 Arena.

This saw Evans qualify for both the Grand Slam and the World Championships. Arguably the best moment of his career came at the 2013 World Championships, where he whitewashed veteran Ronnie Baxter 3-0 in the first-round.

Evans endured a frustrating 2014, failing to replicate his 2013 form. Only once last year did he advance beyond the last 16 stage of a Pro Tour event, but he’s already improved upon that record in 2015, reaching the last 16 and quarter-finals in two UK Open qualifiers.

After failing to qualify for last year’s World Championships, Evans appears determined to make amends, which reflects in his 2015 form.

Ranked 51^st in the world, he has already taken the scalps of Justin Pipe, Paul Nicholson and Dean Winstanley on tour this year, whilst succumbing to narrow 6-5 defeats to the in-form duo of Phil Taylor and Dave Chisnall; so his game is clearly in excellent shape.

In an exclusive interview with Live Darts last month, Evans was in bullish mood, maintaining that he was capable of doing ‘a lot of damage’ on the big stage this year. The full interview can be found here: http://www.live-darts.com/category/darts-interviews/ricky-evans-2015-interview-201502250001/

First and foremost, Evans is one of the most popular and genuine figures on the PDC circuit.  He doesn’t take himself too seriously and his enthusiasm for the game is refreshing. On behalf of the darting community, I wish Ricky a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back performing on the big stage very soon.