Tony Ridler

Tony Ridler (born January 21, 1954 in Newport, Monmouthshire) is a Welsh darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s - he also made comebacks in the 1990s and won the Welsh Open in 2004.Dubious|date=July 2008

Achievements

Ridler was one of the Welsh players who showed promise during the 1970s by winning the 1973 CIU (Club and Institute Union) Individual and the 1977 Warwickshire Open. He reached the semi-finals of the 1977 Winmau World Masters and was runner-up in the 1979 British Gold Cup (to John Lowe) and British Open pairs in 1980.

However, as darts began to become more popular during the 1980s, Ridler faded from the scene and wasn't able to make an impact on the game.

He only made one appearance at the World Championship in the 1983 event and won his first round match against the Dane, Finn Jensen but was defeated in the second round by Dave Whitcombe.

Comebacks

Ridler's best achievement came during one of his comebacks to the game. In May 2004, he beat Alan Tabern and Tony West on his way to taking the Welsh Open title in Prestatyn. He lost in the last 32 to Niels de Ruiter on the defence of his title.

Ridler had an earlier comeback in 1997 reaching the last 32 of the revived News of the World Darts Championship and also reaching the last 16 of the World Matchplay.

The last event in which he featured in the later stages was at a PDC UK Open regional qualifier in 2006 when he lost in the early stages to Andy Hamilton.

Memorable throwing action

Ridler played with an unusual throwing action which saw him throw his darts almost from the tip of his nose.