The Ally Pally wasp sparked further chaos on Friday evening as it chased a petrified Lourence Ilagan around the oche.
The buzzing insect has become as much of a regular feature in the World Darts Championship as the arrows themself, and provided yet more entertainment during the round one clash between the Filipino and Nathan Aspinall.
Ilagan, 47, had just collected his darts from the board when the wasp began to follow him towards his drinks table, prompting a concerned-looking Aspinall, 34, to bring it to the attention of his counterpart.
And when the Filipino realised that he was the menacing insect’s next victim, he began flailing his arms and running away it before it could launch a stinging attack.
It prompted huge jeers from the crowd who were left in stitches at the ordeal, as well as commentator Wayne Mardle who let out a hilarious shriek and said: ‘Oh my goodness! It’s a wasp, man. It’s not a tiger, Lourence, come on!’
The Sky Sports cameras then cut back to Aspinall, who was visibly cracking up at Ilagan’s reaction before composing himself ahead of his own three throws.
The Ally Pally wasp sparked further chaos on as it chased Lourence Ilagan around the oche
Nathan Aspinall was visibly amused after his counterpart ran away from the menacing insect
The wasp, however, was not happy for that being its only moment of the evening, and returned again in the opening set. Aspinall took a swipe at the insect as it flew past him and the game had to be halted yet again.
The insect has been a frequent flyer in Ally Pally since the tournament began on December 11 and has sparked many humerous moments since.
Reigning world champion Luke Littler’s ducking and diving in a bid to avoid it while being interviewed on the opening night was a sign of things to come.
In the eight days since, the wasp was had many near misses. First it was hit by a dart thrown by Nitin Kumar, before avoiding Jurjen van der Velde’s attempts to get rid of it by using bug spray.
The insect has also landed on Teemu Hajru’s collar and David Munyua’s face, with the latter then putting the wasp in his pocket before it escaped and returned to wreak yet more havoc.
Asked about the incident, Munyua said: ‘I tried to put the wasp in my pocket to stay with me, because I love going through tough things.
‘I don’t know how it escaped. I have seen how it has been interfering with other players. You need maximum concentration, you need to be there yourself, so when you get little disturbance.’
