Darts star Ricky Evans has paid a heartfelt tribute to his sister after her sudden death.
Taking to Facebook he shared a number of pictures of her, with the caption: “My beautiful little sister Elisha… I love you so much. I’ll always be your best friend.”
His management company added: “We send our deepest condolences to Ricky Evans and his family and friends, after the devastating news of the sudden passing of his sister Elisha. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Ricky.”
Fellow darts star Ross Smith added: “Very sorry to hear this awful news. Sending love to Ricky and his family.”
Tributes continued to fly in from fans, who took to the comments section of Evans’ post. One wrote: “Terrible news,” while another added: “So sad and such a shame.”
The 34-year-old has recently been in action at the UK Open in Somerset. He beat Gabriel Clemens in the first round but could not find a way past Dave Chisnall, who secured a thrilling 10-9 success. Evans reached the last 32 of the World Darts Championship earlier this year.
He suggested he was keen to invite fans to his house for Christmas dinner Speaking at the time, he said: “It was relief in a way [beating Chisnall]. You could tell from the last round, it’s a completely different Ricky Evans.
“I wasn’t sulking, I wasn’t moaning. I was quite concentrated at times, it’s amazing what can happen. I need to do this every time, instead of being an idiot, moaning, thinking about what I could’ve done. Just worry about the next leg.”
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He added: “Every time they [the fans] started singing my name, I thought ‘stop it, shut up, start singing his name’, because I kept getting goosebumps.
“I had it in my head, I got a bit emotional. Stop calling my name because I’ll start playing poo now. I don’t understand why they’re calling my name? But more the merrier, keep going…
“You’re welcome to come the Evans household, we can sing Feliz Navidad and watch Gavin and Stacey together.”
Evans is currently the world 43 and reached the Players Championship 16 last year, only to lose out to World Grand Prix champion Mike De Decker.
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