Beating the booze was the key for Shropshire darter Ted Hankey as he made a winning start to his BDO World Championship challenge.

The Telford ace strolled to a 3-0 victory over Brian Woods, who had reached the semi-finals last year, at the Lakeside, Frimley Green.

No 7 seed Hankey, from Aqueduct, averaged 91.92 to set up a second round meeting with either Ross Montgomery or Martin Phillips – and then revealed his secret battle with the bottle. “I was drinking too much,” said the 2000 world champion, explaining why this was his first victory on a TV stage in more than 12 months.

“I believed I needed to drink a lot to get on stage, but I didn’t – I just needed to focus on my darts, like I did in 2000.

“I took my drinking to a different level really, I thought I needed to do that to control my nerves but it doesn’t work.

“I’ve changed my life, I’ve changed the way I play the game and hopefully I’ll have a chance (to be world champion) again.

“Hopefully, what I’m doing now will get me through to the final this week.”

Victory in his next match would see Hankey, 40, through to the quarter-finals for the third consecutive year.

His opponent in the last eight would be either defending champion Mark Webster or John ‘Boy’ Walton – who beat him in the final back in 2001.