Dave Parletti will grace the Lakeside stage for the first time on Tuesday as he takes on either Krzysztof Kciuk or Brian Løkken in the first round. He spoke to dartsplanet.tv in an exclusive pre-World Championship interview.

Parletti – who qualified for the 2017 UK Open in Minehead – has undergone a difficult 18 months to say at the least, despite qualifying for his first World Championship.

The 35-year-old was attending the Prague Open in the Czech Republic in November 2017 when he began to feel unwell. Parletti’s condition began to deteriorate and was later rushed to hospital – where the situation was labelled as life-threatening.

“It was tough I won’t lie,” said Surrey-based Parletti. “It came out of the blue, I was playing so well at the time aswell so trying to get back to some sort of level took a lot of time and practise, at first I didn’t think I’d play again, but to achieve what I did considering has shocked me.”

Parletti battled back last year upon his return to the BDO circuit, winning four events – including the Welsh and Wolverhampton Opens – where he defeated Mark Layton and Gary Robson in the finals respectively.

“Winning four events [last year] I was chuffed to bits with and proud as there are a lot of top players in the BDO, so it is not easy to win an event, you have to throw well consistently throughout the day.”

London-born Parletti will be making his debut at the prestigious BDO World Championships as he takes on either Krzysztof Kciuk of Poland or Denmark’s Brian Løkken – who contest in a preliminary round match on Sunday afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s clash.

The 35-year-old said: “I don’t really know them lads, I played Krzysztof [Kciuk] in the World Masters; he is a steady player, so either game will be tough and I will just go through the motions and see what happens.

“I’m a postman so have been unbelievably busy at work but been putting an hour a day in the evening, working on finishes, I’m throwing well.”

It really would be a monumental story if Parletti was not only able to win the World Championship on debut but to win the tournament just 14 months after undergoing life-saving surgery, would be remarkable!

Parletti added: “My goals for Lakeside are simple, I’m there to win it, without sounding big headed but we graft all year to get there so winning the title is the only dream!”

Rob Cross – who defeated Phil Taylor in January 2018 to the lift the PDC World Championship – is a well known player to have gone all the way to victory on debut at the World Championship.

When asked if the story of Rob Cross could inspire a World Championship debutant like himself, Parletti said: “The Rob Cross story is stuff of fairytales; I don’t think we will ever see that happen again in terms of who he beat to win it but I’ll just turn up and see what happens. I believe in destiny so if it’s meant to happen it will happen.”

Just four days after the conclusion of the action at the Lakeside, UK Qualifying School will take place in Wigan. Over 400 arrowsmiths are expected to battle it out for a coveted place on the PDC’s Pro Tour and a spot at March’s UK Open.

Surrey’s Parletti said, on the subject of Qualifying School: “Q-School is not an option for me at the moment, but who’s knows maybe one day!”