DARTS professional Jim Williams heads to the BDO World Championships hoping for his best ever performance at the Lakeside event which starts this weekend.

The Shobdon ace is ranked ninth for the annual competition and is set to play his first game on Tuesday afternoon when he takes on the winner of the preliminary round tie between Holland’s Jeffrey Sparidaans and Sweden’s Dennis Nilsson, a former strongman competitor.

“It’s going all right at the moment and my form has been quite good,” Williams said.

“I’ve done well in a few local tournaments and after a poor start to the year, I got stronger at 2017 went on.

“There is extra pressure on players at this event because it’s the one that everyone wants to win and because the prize money is so good.

“I’ve not made it beyond the second round before so my aim is to try and beat that this time and I’m confident that I can do that.”

Williams won the Antwerp, French and Swiss Opens last year and this will be the fourth time he has competed at Lakeside.

England’s Glenn Durrant is the reigning men’s champion after beating Danny Noppert from the Netherlands to claim the title and £100,000 last year.