1993 BDO World Darts Championship

The 1993 Embassy World Darts Championship will have a notoriety within the history of World Darts. It was the 16th staging of the competition, but it turned out to be the last time that the sport had a unified World Championship.

For the previous 5 years, the Embassy was the only tournament which had received television coverage and a group of 16 players (including all previous World Champions) wanted to appoint a PR consultant to improve the image of the game. They created the World Darts Council (WDC), later the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) a few months before this tournament. The WDC had already held their own tournament, the 1992 Lada UK Classic (won by Mike Gregory). The tournament had been broadcast on Anglia television and the top players wanted to see their exposure to television coverage increase.

During these championships, the WDC players wore their new insignia on their sleeves. They were later told to remove them by the tournament organisers, the BDO [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/westondartsleague/DartsPages/history-darts.htm] . The WDC players decided that if they were not going to be recognised by the BDO they would no longer play in the Embassy Championships. [http://www.theiceman.co.uk/split.htm]

The second round saw several upset results including defeats of three former World Champions. Dennis Priestley lost to Steve Beaton. Eric Bristow also went out in the second round, losing to Bob Anderson. Kevin Spiolek eliminated Phil Taylor at the same stage.

John Lowe went on to beat Alan Warriner in the final and claim this last ever unified title - the third of his career. With his previous victories in 1979 and 1987, he became the first player to win the World title in three different decades.

Prize Money

Total Prize fund was £128,500 (plus a £51,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish - not won)
*Champion £30,000
*Runner-up £15,000
*Semi-finalists £7,500
*Quarter-finalists £3,750
*2nd round losers £2,000
*1st round losers £1,800
*Highest checkout £1,500
*Non-qualifiers £400

The Results

World Snooker Championship Rounds
|flagicon|England Steve Beaton|3|flagicon|England Dave Richardson-Page|1
|flagicon|England Dennis Priestley|3|flagicon|Scotland Jocky Wilson|0
|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|3|flagicon|Denmark Per Skau|1
|flagicon|England Bob Anderson|3|flagicon|England Scott Coleman|1
|flagicon|Scotland Ronnie Sharp|3|flagicon|New Zealand Peter Hunt|0
|flagicon|England Alan Warriner|3|flagicon|Northern Ireland Mitchell Crooks|0
|flagicon|Canada Albert Anstey|3|flagicon|United States Sean Downs|0
|flagicon|Australia Wayne Weening|3|flagicon|England Rod Harrington|0
|flagicon|Denmark Jann Hoffmann|3|flagicon|Germany Bernd Hebecker|0
|flagicon|England Mike Gregory|3|flagicon|Scotland Jamie Harvey|0
|flagicon|Wales Martin Phillips|3|flagicon|United States Dave Kelly|1
|flagicon|England Bobby George|3|flagicon|Australia Keith Sullivan|1
|flagicon|Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld|3|flagicon|England Graham Miller|2
|flagicon|England John Lowe|3|flagicon|Wales Chris Johns|1
|flagicon|England Kevin Spiolek|3|flagicon|England Kevin Kenny|1
|flagicon|England Phil Taylor|3|flagicon|Ireland John Joe O'Shea|1
|flagicon|England Steve Beaton|3|flagicon|England Dennis Priestley|1
|flagicon|England Bob Anderson|3|flagicon|England Eric Bristow|0
|flagicon|England Alan Warriner|3|flagicon|Scotland Ronnie Sharp|1
|flagicon|Australia Wayne Weening|3|flagicon|Canada Albert Anstey|0
|flagicon|England Mike Gregory|3|flagicon|Denmark Jann Hoffmann|1
|flagicon|England Bobby George|3|flagicon|Wales Martin Phillips|0
|flagicon|England John Lowe|3|flagicon|Netherlands Raymond van Barneveld|2
|flagicon|England Kevin Spiolek|3|flagicon|England Phil Taylor|1
|flagicon|England Steve Beaton|4|flagicon|England Bob Anderson|1
|flagicon|England Alan Warriner|4|flagicon|Australia Wayne Weening|1
|flagicon|England Bobby George|4|flagicon|England Mike Gregory|2
|flagicon|England John Lowe|4|flagicon|England Kevin Spiolek|3
|flagicon|England Alan Warriner|5|flagicon|England Steve Beaton|2
|flagicon|England John Lowe|5|flagicon|England Bobby George|3
("Best of 11 sets") Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey, 10 January 1993).
flagicon|England John Lowe
6-3
Alan Warriner flagicon|England
Scores to fill |
Scores to fill
flagicon|England John Lowe wins the 1993 Embassy World Darts Championship
"Best of 5 sets"
"Best of 5 sets"
"Best of 7 sets"
"Best of 9 sets"