Wolfman Martin Adams reveals sex ban helped him become darts world champion

Martin Adams has revealed he followed the Rocky road to darts world title glory - by observing a monastic sex ban.

Cheery of nature and ample of waistline, born-again BDO champion Adams has never claimed to be an Adonis of the oche or a hell-raiser who swings from the chandeliers all night.

But he is almost certainly the first 53-year-old world champion in history, and in any sport, to regain his title by observing a no-nookie pact with his wife.

’Wolfie’ Adams reclaimed the trophy he first held aloft in 2007 by beating unseeded sensation Dave Chisnall 7-5 in a gripping final at the Lakeside on Sunday night.

Chisnall had helped to clear his path to the title by removing defending champion Ted Hankey in the quarter-finals, so there was no Hankey to distract Adams and no hanky-panky either.

As if to prove that darts is entering a new era of clean living, Adams was detained for more than an hour after his two-and-a-half-hour thriller against Chisnall as he obliged a random drug test squad.

And as he basked in the glory of his £100,000 prize yesterday, ‘Wolfie’ - who earned his nickname by adopting a wolf cub, Duma, at a sanctuary near Reading - came clean about the knockout secret behind his success.

Heading home for Deeping St James, near Peterborough, he chortled: "We have all watched the Rocky films - women weaken the legs.

"Like Rocky’s coach (Mickey Goldmill) said, if you want to be a champion, you’ve got to stay focused and you can’t have any distractions - not even one in the shape of the lovely Mrs Adams.

"After the final, we went to the champions’ dinner, but she crashed and burned long before I did - but we are heading home to our love nest, so who knows what may happen?"

Adams’ wife Sharon, whose loyal support was an over-exposed feature of the BBC’s live TV coverage, was equally forthright about the couple’s pact, although she attributed the libido rations to her husband being a creature of habit.

She said: "It was his decision - Martin spends an awful lot of time away from home and he has his own well-drilled routine.

"As well as his bedtime routine, every morning at the Lakeside he will get up and just make himself a cup of tea because he is so used to being in hotel rooms on his own.

"Then he will go outside and have a quick cigarette before following a strict pattern to get himself ready, which includes polishing his shoes before every match."

Adams may observe only one third of the unholy trinity of sex, drugs and bullseyes, but he is one of the most endearing characters in his sport - and probably the best.

Few players can hold a candle to 15-times world champion Phil Taylor, undisputed ringmaster for the ’other’ lot under the Professional Darts Corporation’s big top, but even the ’Power’ would have admired the quality of Sunday night’s arrows at the Lakeside.

Adams decorated his triumph with a 10-dart leg in the fifth set and a maximum 170 checkout in the sixth, proving that whatever Taylor can do at the age of 49, Wolfie can match it at 53.

After becoming the oldest world darts champion in history when he beat Phill Nixon 7-6 three years ago, Adams has now extended his own record and he added: "Tom Watson was 59 when he came within a shot of winning The Open last year, so age is not an issue for me.

"I love breaking records and I like to think of myself as a good bottle of wine - I get better with age, although winning this tournament doesn’t get any easier.

"Towards the end I was so hot out on that stage it was like sitting on a beach in the Maldives.

"The cheque is very nice, and the missus already wants to spend some of it on a new motor, but I always said I wanted my name on the trophy. Now I’ve achieved that twice I would love to become on the third man to defend my title successfully."