Gerwyn Price has threatened to never play at the PDC World Championship again before seemingly wiping his Instagram account after his stunning quarter-final defeat to German Gabriel Clemens.
World number one Price was dumped out of the biggest darts tournament in controversial fashion as he was forced to wear ear defenders amid abuse from the crowd. Price has been targeted by fans at the Alexandra Palace arena for the past few years and the vitriol clearly got to him as he folded to lose 5-1 against his impressive opponent.
Price stunned viewers when he disappeared at 3-1 down only to return wearing the ear defenders to block out the jeers. They made little difference.
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And Price has now suggested he may have had enough of being put off by the crowd, posting on Instagram: "So frustrating, you play all year round preparing for this one tournament. So gutted I wasn't let play but Good luck everyone left in. Not sure I will ever play in this event again."
He has since deleted all the content on his Instagram page.
Darts pundit Paul Nicholson believes the threat of the 37-year-old quitting is real, saying: "I genuinely do think, because Price is a very independent soul, that the treatment that he gets on the stage - whether he wears ear plugs, ear defenders, whatever he does, if he gets treated this way, I honestly think he might walk from the sport," he said. "If it doesn't change, we will lose him."
Price had been forced to apologise earlier in the tournament after a gesture he made during his last 16 victory over Jose de Sousa.
Some construed Price to be mocking the disabled after he missed a 180 attempt in the fourth-round clash.
Price stuck his tongue into his lip and held his hands out in front of him, a reaction which sparked criticism of his actions online and prompted an on-air apology from broadcasters Sky.
