BDO World Darts Championship

The BDO World Darts Championship is one version of the World Darts Championship having began as a unified World Championship for the game of darts in 1978. Since 1994, following a dispute with the BDO, a rival breakaway group was formed (now known as the Professional Darts Corporation) and it stages its own annual PDC World Championship, generally before the BDO version in late December and early January of each year.

The BDO version was inaugurated in 1978 when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands Nightclub in the English city of Nottingham. The following year it moved to the Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke, where it stayed until 1985. Since then it has been held at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey. The event has been organised by the British Darts Organisation, darts' governing body.

There have been some of darts greatest moments at the BDO World Championship. In 1983, a 22 year-old qualifier from Ipswich, Keith Deller beat the world's top 3 players including Eric Bristow in a memorable final to produce one of the greatest upsets in the sport's history.

In 1990 American player Paul Lim hit the tournament's only ever perfect 9-dart finish in the second round against Irishman Jack McKenna to win a bonus of £50,000 which was more than the eventual champion.

The finals of 1992 and 1998 both went right down to a final leg decider, having reached 5 sets all and 5 legs all. Phil Taylor defeated Mike Gregory in 1992 and Raymond van Barneveld beat Richie Burnett in 1998. These two matches are often mentioned in a discussion of greatest matches of all time.

Similarly, the final of 2007 was exceptionally nailbiting. Martin Adams was 6 sets up, and after the comfort break, Phill Nixon responded by winning the next 6 consecutive sets. Adams held on to take victory in the 13th and deciding set, to win the title that had eluded him for 14 years.

Mark Webster of Wales is the current champion having beaten Australian Simon Whitlock in the 2008 final.

ponsors

*1978 to 2003 Embassy (Worldwide Promotions, Imperial Tobacco)
*2004 to present Lakeside Country Club

Venues

*1978 Heart of the Midlands Club, Nottingham
*1979-1985 Jollees Cabaret Club, Stoke-on-Trent
*1986-present Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey

BBC Television Coverage

The tournament has been broadcast by BBC Television every year since its inception. Since 2001 Ray Stubbs has been hosting the coverage with twice world finalist Bobby George as a pundit. Former hosts have been Peter Purves, Tony Gubba, David Icke, Eammon Holmes, Dougie Donnelly and John Inverdale.

The commenators are Tony Green who has been covering every year since the first ever championship, David Croft, BBC Radio 5-Live's Formula 1 commentator, and one time BDO world champion John Part. Previous commenators have included David Vine (1978) and Sid Waddell (1978-1994)

Between 1989 and 2001, the Championship was the only tournament shown on terrestrial television in the UK. However it wasn't until 2005 that viewers were able to see every dart live at the World Championship, when the BBC introduced interactive coverage on its BBCi service.

In January 2007 the BBC extended their contract to 2010. [http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,3-2007020103,00.html]

UK viewing figures for World Championship final::2007 3,300,000:2006 3,620,000:2005 2,550,000:2004 3,410,000:2003 2,810,000:2002 2,460,000:2001 3,680,000:2000 3,700,000:1999 4,060,000

International Television Coverage

International coverage of the event has increased in recent years. Dutch television station SBS6 has broadcast the event since 1998, as Dutch players have become more prominent in the world game. SBS6's contract to cover the event runs until 2008. [http://www.dartswdf.com/aa_darts/newsarchives/newsarchjan2005.html] .

Final Results and statistics

Notes

Records

"Since the split in darts two versions of the world championship have existed since 1994, this record section relates specifically to achievements in the BDO version."

:Most titles: "Eric Bristow 5". Raymond van Barneveld has won four titles (plus one PDC world championship). Phil Taylor won this title twice, but has added eleven PDC World Championships to his haul.:Most finals: "Eric Bristow 10". John Lowe appeared in eight finals and Raymond van Barneveld reached the final six times. Phil Taylor has appeared in 16 world finals when combining PDC and BDO totals.:Youngest champion: "Jelle Klaasen 21 years 90 days (2006)".:Youngest competitor: "Michael van Gerwen 17 years 257 days (2007)".:Oldest champion: "Martin Adams 50 years 224 days (2007)". Adams opponent in that final, Phill Nixon was three months older than Adams and would have been the oldest ever winner himself.:Number of different winners: "20". Mark Webster became the 20th different name on the trophy when he won the 2008 world title. Despite the presence of the PDC World title, there are still only 20 world champions - no player has ever won the PDC World Championship without having won the BDO title previously.:Unsuccessful title defences: Jelle Klaasen's first round defeat on the defence of his title was the sixth time in the history of the event that a defending champion had suffered a defeat in his first match after winning the title. The others were 1980 John Lowe (to Cliff Lazarenko in the 2nd round, having received a bye in 1st round), 1982 Eric Bristow (to Steve Brennan), 1984 Keith Deller (to Nicky Virachkul), 2000 Raymond van Barneveld (to Chris Mason), 2005 Andy Fordham (to Vincent van der Voort), 2007 Jelle Klaasen (to Co Stompe):Losing finalists: Only four players have appeared in two world finals without taking the title - Dave Whitcombe, Bobby George, Mervyn King and Ronnie Baxter. Mike Gregory, Alan Warriner, Marshall James, Richie Davies, Phill Nixon and Simon Whitlock take the total to just ten players who have reached the final without ever winning it.:Top seed defeats: The number one seed has been dumped out in the first round of the championship on seven occasions, Steve Beaton suffered this fate two years in succession. 1978 Eric Bristow (to Conrad Daniels), :1980 John Lowe (to Cliff Lazarenko in the 2nd round, having received a bye in 1st round), 1982 Eric Bristow (to Steve Brennan), 1994 Steve Beaton (to Nick Gedney), 1995 Steve Beaton (to Dave Askew), 1997 Martin Adams (to Roger Carter), 2000 Raymond van Barneveld (to Chris Mason).:Left handed champions: Les Wallace & Mark Webster are the only two left-handed players to have won the BDO title. :Bespectacled champions: John Walton became the first player to win the title whilst wearing spectacles in 2001, Martin Adams was the second in 2007 and current champion Mark Webster was the third and second in succession.

Averages

Since the breakaway of the PDC players, there has been much debate about the relative merits of the players within each organisation. The debate often focuses on the three-dart averages of players in matches. The averages don't necessarily reflect the quality of the players, but the figures are often analysed.

Since the BDO Championship started in 1978, there have been 19 occasions where a player has achieved a three-dart average in excess of 100 during a match. Keith Deller was the first player to achieve an average of 100, in the quarter-final of 1985 against John Lowe. Surprisingly he lost the match. It wasn't until Phil Taylor's semi-final of 1990 that another player managed a 100 average. Raymond van Barneveld has achieved the feat six times.

*103.83 Raymond van Barneveld (2004, Quarter-Final) v John Walton
*102.63 Dennis Priestley (1993, 1st Round) v Jocky Wilson
*101.67 Mervyn King (2002, Quarter-Final) v Raymond Barneveld
*101.55 Ted Hankey (1998, 1st Round) v Wayne Weening
*101.40 Marko Pusa (2001, 2nd Round) v Jez Porter
*101.28 Martin Adams (2002, Quarter-Final) v Wayne Jones
*101.10 Raymond van Barneveld (2002, Quarter-Final) v Mervyn King (lost match)
*100.92 Raymond van Barneveld (2005, 2nd Round) v Mike Veitch
*100.83 Raymond van Barneveld (2003, Quarter-Final) v Eric Clarys
*100.83 Raymond van Barneveld (2002, 1st Round) v Bobby George
*100.80 Phil Taylor (1990, Semi-Final) v Cliff Lazarenko
*100.71 Raymond van Barneveld (2002, 2nd Round) v Eric Clarys
*100.71 Darryl Fitton (2008, 2nd Round) v Gary Robson
*100.62 Martin Adams (1999, 2nd Round) v Graham Hunt
*100.62 John Walton (2001, 1st Round) v Ritchie Davies
*100.38 Ted Hankey (1999, 1st Round) v Roger Carter
*100.29 Keith Deller (1985, Quarter-Final) v John Lowe (lost match)
*100.07 Martin Adams (2007, 1st Round) v Tony O'Shea
*100.02 Chris Mason (2000, 1st Round) v Raymond Barneveld

There have also been three players who have averaged over 99.50, just missing the 100 barrier.
*99.99 Phil Taylor (1991, 2nd Round) v Tony Payne
*99.96 Bob Anderson (1989, 2nd Round) v Wayne Weening
*99.66 Eric Bristow (1985, Semi-Final) v Dave Whitcombe

Women's Championship

The women's World Championship started at Lakeside in 2001 and Trina Gulliver has won seven championships. Her seventh title in 2007 took her overall record at the Lakeside to 20 match wins and having only dropped four sets in the history of the championship - one each in the finals of 2001, 2002 and 2007 and one in the quarter final of 2003. She managed a long run of 13 consecutive matches without dropping a single set, which started the semi-final of 2003 and ended in the final of 2007.

Gulliver has topped 90 for match averages on three occasions at the World Championships:95.97 (2006 Semi-Final v Clair Bywaters):94.92 (2001 Semi-Final v Crissy Manley):90.24 (2004 Semi-Final v Karin Krappen)

2008 Championship

"see main article: 2008 BDO World Darts Championship"

The 2008 Lakeside World Championship was the 31st Championship and took place between January 5, 2008 and January 13, 2008 at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey.

External links

* [http://www.bdodarts.com Official BDO website]
* [http://www.lakesideworlddarts.co.uk/ Official website for Lakeside World Darts]