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ST HELENS has long been known as a hotbed of darts, but it became an unlikely source of a new star for this weekend's BetVictor World Cup of Darts.

While St Helens star and world number four Michael Smith was already in Austria to represent England in the tournament, a late call-up saw locally-based Janis Mustafejevs make a late journey to compete in the tournament.

Mustafejevs moved from Latvia to St Helens in 2015 and only began playing darts in 2017.

Having seen Latvia's Madars Razma join the PDC circuit, Mustafejevs contacted his fellow countryman ahead of one competition and has since begun competing on the PDC's Nordic and Baltic tour.

When China were forced to pull out of the World Cup on Thursday, just 24 hours before the event began in Salzburg, Razma and Mustafejevs made a dash to replace them.

The marathon journey paid off as Latvia defeated Hong Kong in the first round before taking on former finalists Belgium in the last 16.

"I'm living my dream," said Mustafejevs. "I've only been playing darts for two-and-a-half years and now I'm here, playing with Madars in the World Cup, and I'm very happy.

"I got up at 2am and travelled to Stansted from St Helens, flew to Austria and then had to wait for my test results - then I played without any sleep!

"I still can't believe we won. I've learned a lot from Madars in the last two years and to play with him is a dream."

Mustafejevs works for Skelmersdale-based NW Metal Sections making steel reinforcement bars for UPVC windows - but Razma has tipped his team-mate as a potential star of the future.

"I'm sure he will be the second player from Latvia to play in Q School," said Razma. "Janis was brilliant against Hong Kong.

"I want to see more Latvians in the PDC and I have helped Janis to play on the PDC Nordic and Baltic tour. It's important for the future of Latvian darts.

"Janis has the potential to be a good player and he is still learning in every game."

Smith enjoyed a less hectic start to the World Cup alongside Rob Cross for England, as they defeated the Philippines 5-3 to move into a second round tie with Lithuania.