Hundreds gathered in Huntly tonight to greet local darts star John Henderson as he set foot in his hometown as a World Cup champion for the first time.
Families, friends and fans packed the town’s square to welcome “Hendo the Highlander” with cheers – proudly waving the Scottish flag across the Aberdeenshire town.
A late call-up to represent his country after Gary Anderson opted against travelling to Germany, John Henderson landed the biggest success of his career by teaming up with Peter Wright to win the World Cup of Darts for Scotland.
The duo came top of the class yesterday as Scotland defeated Austria 3-1 to win the World Cup for the second time in three years.
The Austrian pair of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez defeated top seeds England to earn their place in the final and were bidding to become the first unseeded nation to win the tournament.
However, with Austria missing five darts to win the pairs contest, Henderson was left in tears in the celebration as he scooped the title for Scotland and claimed his first PDC title.
With posters, flags and big smiles on their faces, locals welcomed Henderson as he arrived back home to celebrate his historic win.
Following the game of his lifetime yesterday, he said: “To go back home as a World Cup champion makes me speechless.
“I can only thank Peter for everything he has done for me throughout the week and his good advice.
“Hopefully I can use this to kick-start my career.
“I know where I want to be. I’m only 44 in the world rankings so hopefully this is the start of many things to come.”
Henderson hailed as ‘Credit to Huntly’
The popular Aberdeenshire player also recorded a singles victory over world champion and world number one Gerwyn Price in the semi-finals, before sealing Scotland’s pivotal 4-3 pairs win over Austria in the final.
Scottish Conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Alexander Burnett, has now submitted a motion to parliament congratulating Henderson on the historic win, describing him as a “credit to Huntly”.
He said: “To win a World Cup in any sport is incredible but for someone to do it so local to us is absolutely fantastic.
“I know how popular John Henderson is both in Huntly and across the north-east and it’s excellent to see him achieve this success with Scotland.
“He played extremely well and I’m sure winning such a prestigious event for Scotland is a dream come true.
“John is a credit to Huntly and fully deserves to be recognised in the Scottish Parliament for his achievement.
“I wish John all the very best for the rest of the season.”
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