Five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld collapsed during the PDC Players Championship 8 event on Friday and was treated by paramedics.
Dutch darts great Van Barneveld was defeated 6-1 by Ryan Searle in the Milton Keynes event and fell ill soon after the match.
The tournament was brought to a temporary halt so the 53-year-old could receive medical attention in the arena, but he did not require hospital treatment.
A statement from the PDC on its official Twitter page read: "Raymond van Barneveld received medical treatment following a collapse at Friday's Players Championship 8.
"Van Barneveld was defeated in the first round of the PDC Super Series 2 event in Milton Keynes, and later required medical assistance after becoming unwell in the arena.
"He was treated by paramedics but has not required hospital treatment, and returned to his hotel at the Marshall Arena to be further monitored.
"Play was suspended whilst Van Barneveld received treatment before resuming at 1445 GMT."
The cause of Van Barneveld's turn is unknown, but his manager Ben de Kok told Dutch outlet AD: "Heart scans were taken, there was nothing wrong with that.
"He was taken to his room by people from the ambulance. He is now in bed. Maybe he has eaten too little. You can live with diabetes, but not with heart disease."
Van Barneveld made his return to darts in February, a little over a year after retiring from the sport, and claimed a PDC tour card at qualifying school.
Dave Chisnall continues hot streak with victory in Dutch Darts Championship
Dave Chisnall’s hot run of form on the European Tour continued as he won the Dutch Darts Championship in Leeuwarden.
Chisnall beat Luke Humphries 8-5 in Sunday night’s final to claim his second title of the year following his success in Germany in February.
The 39-year-old outplayed Humphries, who won four titles on last year’s European Tour, in the showpiece, peppering seven 180s and averaging 99.89.
He had to do it the hard way as well as he overcame home favourite Michael van Gerwen in a dramatic semi-final.
Chisnall, having beaten up-and-coming star Josh Rock and two-time world champion Peter Wright earlier in the day, disappointed a partisan crowd after sealing a final-set decider by taking out his seventh match dart – finishing in the ‘madhouse’ double one – with Van Gerwen missing three of his own.
Wright had earlier won a thrilling contest with defending champion Michael Smith, where the pair renewed their rivalry from Thursday night’s feisty Premier League match in Leeds.
'I'm the Andy Murray of darts!' – Smith revels in momentous maiden world title triumph
Michael Smith considered himself darts' equivalent of Andy Murray after beating Michael van Gerwen to land his maiden world title triumph.
The 32-year-old claimed a 7-4 victory in Tuesday's thrilling PDC World Championship final at Alexandra Palace in London, which included a perfect nine-dart leg in the second set.
Smith, who had lost eight successive major finals before his breakthrough triumph at the Grand Slam of Darts in November, is now the world number one as a result of his victory.
He is just the 11th winner of the tournament in its 30-year history, with Phil Taylor having won it 14 times prior to his retirement in 2018.
And Smith believes there are parallels to tennis star Murray's memorable 2012 US Open final win against Novak Djokovic – his first of three grand slam triumphs after four final defeats.
"I'm like the Andy Murray of darts," Smith told Sky Sports. "He has come through with these three amazing players in [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal and Djokovic.
"He managed to get Queen's and then won the US Open, Wimbledon, and Wimbledon again, and he had to work hard for that.
"I know he got to world number one and then, unluckily for him, he had his injuries, although it didn't cost him his career as he's still playing now."
Five different players have now had their name on darts' biggest trophy in the past six years, with Peter Wright the only multiple winner in that period.
"Back in the day it was Phil Taylor and someone who pushed him," Smith said. "Barney [Raymond van Barneveld] was there, Adie [Adrian Lewis] pushed him for a bit as well.
"Then Michael [Van Gerwen] came along, then you've got Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Gez [Gerwyn Price].
"You've got really unbelievable players where anyone in the top 32 can win a TV title and it's not just Phil Taylor dominating the sport. The sport is wide open now, which is good."
Smith averaged 100.71 across the 11 sets, with that the highest in the World Championship final since Van Gerwen's 102.88 three years ago when losing to Wright (102.79).
'I want to take over the sport' – Smith world champion after hitting nine-darter in epic final with Van Gerwen
Michael Smith wants to "take over the sport" after becoming world champion for the first time with a stunning 7-4 victory over Michael van Gerwen in an epic final on Tuesday.
Smith is a two-time runner-up at Alexandra Palace, having been beaten in the 2019 and 2022 finals by Van Gerwen and Peter Wright respectively, but he finally got over the line with a stunning display in which he hit a nine-dart finish - only the second time that has been done in a PDC World Championship final.
After Van Gerwen won the opening set, they took a leg each in the second before an extraordinary third leg, with the Dutchman missing double 12 for a nine-dart finish, only for Smith to step up to the oche and take out 141 for the nine-darter himself and send the crowd into ecstasy.
The match continued to be a topsy-turvy affair, with Van Gerwen looking to have seized control by taking a three sets to one lead, only for Smith to roar back and win four sets on the spin to open up a 6-3 advantage.
Van Gerwen pulled it back to 6-4, but Smith sunk in double-eight with the 11th set tied at two apiece to win the title, as well as become world number one.
Asked how being described as a world champion sounded, Smith told Sky Sports: "[It] sounds amazing. I don't want to start getting into the crying and emotions.
"Michael let me off there, and for once I finally took a chance I didn't deserve. I want to apologise to Michael, I've been in that position.
"It's 1-1 now in the worlds. I took my chances, but he knows and I do that it won't be the last world final between us. He is the best player in darts, I've said it for years, and you have to take your chances and I finally did that.
"I want to do what this man has [Van Gerwen] done, I want to take over the sport."
Smith says the crowd spurred him on to hit the incredible nine-dart finish, explaining: "I didn't hit a nine-darter in practice today but I keep going 180, 180, miss, so I thought, 'Do one now, give the crowd what they deserve.'
Van Gerwen was humble in defeat after missing out on the opportunity to become a four-time world champion, stating: "He played really well. I had my chances, we all know that.
"When you don't hit them, he'll throw everything at you. You can only blame yourself, but it doesn’t take anything away [from Smith] because he played brilliantly all the way through.
"I wasn't what I wanted to be, but that’s part of the game and you have to take it on the chin.
"It's part of the job unfortunately. When we celebrate it's a nice job, and when we lose games it's hard. We all know that."
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