Jonny Clayton reveals medical condition he’s battling as star seen limping on stage

Jonny Clayton was seen limping around the stage at night six of the Premier League Darts in Nottingham on Thursday.

The Welshman looked uncomfortable walking around, with fans becoming concerned after spotting his strange movement.

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But he had already revealed the reason why he’s been struggling when speaking the day before featuring at the Motorpoint Arena.

Clayton has been suffering from gout in his ankle and that’s something he can’t control when it impacts him most.

Gout is a type of arthritis that causes sudden, severe joint pain.

And it was clear that the 51-year-old suffered a flare-up of his left ankle when playing against Michael van Gerwen and Stephen Bunting

His on-stage limping came after he openly spoke about his issues with gout when asked whether he would follow his passion and drive a rally car one day, despite the risk of breaking an arm.

“You could fall off a step and break an arm,” Clayton replied. “You can’t overthink life. You take it as it comes.

“I’ve got gout. I suffer with gout. That just turns up as and when it wants to. It’s part of life, isn’t it?

“If you break an arm, you break an arm.

“It is in my ankles usually. It’s a painful thing when it’s there, but you’ve just got to get on with it.

“It lets you know that it’s there. Don’t you worry about that. You know that it’s there. But adrenaline is massive. You just carry on through it.”

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Pushing through the pain

After noticing Clayton limping, darts pundit Wayne Mardle said: “If it’s not your weight-bearing foot, you can get away with it.”

And the Welsh darts star certainly did, reaching the final of the sixth night of the Premier League campaign on Thursday.

Despite his painful ankle, he beat Van Gerwen 6-3 in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final against Bunting.

He managed to back his first win up with another, coming out on top 6-3 again to dump ‘The Bullet’ out.

As he made it through, so did Luke Humphries, with the World No.2 beating World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen first.

Humphries then went on to knock out reigning world champion Luke Littler in the semi-finals to reach the showpiece.

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Clayton now faces Humphries in the final of the Premier League Darts in Nottingham, hoping to extend his lead at the top.

‘The Ferret’ is sitting clear at the top of the table after the opening five nights, winning one night and eight games.

He added another two game wins to his tally on Thursday, with the chance to make that three in the final.

And he would also take home another trophy for winning his second night of the campaign, denying Humphries his first.