Martin Schindler was forced to pull a dart out of his foot at the UK Open after it bounced off the board and embedded itself in his shoe. The scary incident took place during his 10-4 defeat to Jonny Clayton, who will play former world champion Michael Smith in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

During an interval in the match, Schindler had been throwing practice darts when he was almost injured by his own arrow in a bizarre turn of events. It bounced out of the board and came hurtling back at the German, eventually landing in his shoe. He quickly bent down to inspect the damage before carefully pulling out the dart.

Schindler signalled to the crowd that he was not injured, putting up a hand to let them know that he was okay. Clayton, meanwhile, was stunned by what he had just seen and laughed in disbelief before nodding at his rival to make sure that he was unhurt.

The match quickly resumed, with Schindler also seeing the funny side before composing himself and playing on. He ended up slipping to a one-sided defeat as Clayton made his superiority count to book his place in the quarter-finals.

The Welshman recorded a 98 average and hit five 180s during the match, keeping Schindler at arm's length to ensure his progression. He will be hoping for another strong display against Smith, who reached the last eight with a 10-3 victory over Dmitri van den Bergh.

As for Schindler, his run at the UK Open has come to an end after winning his first three matches in Minehead. He beat Mario Vandenbogaerde in the opening round before squeezing past Dylan Slevin in a final-leg decider earlier on Saturday.

His defeat to Clayton saw him miss out on equalling his best result at the tournament, having reached the quarter-finals in 2023 before losing to eventual champion Andrew Gilding.

Elsewhere at the UK Open, three-time winner James Wade was left frustrated by shouts from the crowd during his victory over Robert Owen and described those responsible as 'selfish' and 'stupid'.

"They’re idiots in my opinion," he snapped in his post-match interview. "It's not about darts then is it, it's about people in the crowd just being a little bit ostentatious. Too many lemonades, probably too many bubbles in the lemonades, and they’re just a bit silly.

"It tends to be that kind of person and it seems to be that kind of people that cheer on those players. Just a bit silly, a bit selfish and a bit stupid."