Michael Smith has been forced to withdraw from this weekend's International Darts Open in Riesa, as ongoing injury troubles continue to plague the former World Champion. The news comes just hours after he failed to qualify for both the Slovak Darts Open and the European Darts Open, the latter seeing him fall at the final hurdle. Smith also suffered first-round exits in Players Championship 17 and 18 during the most recent ProTour double header in Leicester.
Smith, who has a long history of arthritis and injury problems, revealed he will undergo cortisone injections, meaning he cannot compete in Riesa despite having initially qualified through the qualifier. In a social media post, he detailed the extent of his struggles: “Since I played Pro Tours in Milton Keynes and made the final, my ankles haven’t been in a great place with constant swelling and being unable to walk for 4/5 days straight. Then, after spending 9 days in Germany, 3 flights, and 13 hours on a train, the problems have arisen again, and to top it off, an eye infection thrown in.”
Smith explained that he had already cancelled his cortisone injection appointments twice but decided he could not cancel a third time. “So I’m gutted to be saying I won’t be playing in Riesa this weekend, so I can get to my appointment on Friday and hopefully sort it out,” he added. The tournament, which sees Stephen Bunting as defending champion after defeating Nathan Aspinall 8-5 in the 2025 final, will now proceed without 'Bully Boy'. Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Michael van Gerwen, James Wade and Gerwyn Price lead the field in Riesa.