The two Darts world championships will have their champions in January 2014.The PDC event sponsored by Ladbrokes will crown their champion on 1st Jan 14.
We're 3 months away from finding the BDO world champion for 2014 but the competition has already dropped from thousands of entries to a few hundred. By the end of the week we will be down to 40 men and 16 women.
The Lakeside Darts World Champions will be crowned on the weekend of 11/12 January 2014 but when did this tournament start? The majority of the entrants come from the county players from England, Scotland and Wales. These entered there county players in May/June 2013. These qualifiers join qualifiers from around the world in play-offs in Hull this week to fight through to the finals that start in December and finish in January. The finals are all to be held at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey, the home of this event since 1986.
The TV audience is predicted to beat last years 4.5 million across the world, with live games being shown in many countries including the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. All games are live in some countries via the "red button". Tickets for the event are on sale now but selling fast. It will be a sellout, as it is every year.
So why is the British Darts Organisation's main event so popular?
It is the original Darts World Championship, it started in 1978 with a competition for men. The first champion was Leighton Rees from Wales who beat England's John Lowe in the final at the Heart of Midlands Club in Nottingham. The following year the event moved to Jollees Cabaret Club in Stoke on Trent where it stayed until it moved to its present home. The ladies championship started in 2001and was one by England's Trina Gulliver. Trina won the next 6 finals before losing the next 2 to Anastasia Dobromyslova (Russia) and Francis Hoenselaar (Netherlands) respectively.
The youngest winner was the Netherlands' Jelle Klassen in 2006, he was 21 years and 90 days old. Martin Adams was the oldest champion when he won the following year at 54 years and 224 days. Martin was the England captain when he won.
The most memorable win was by a relatively unknown qualifier in 1983. The Ipswich born, Keith Dellar was a name on the county circuit as he represented the successful London team. Keith had to face the world number 3 in the quarter-final, John Lowe. He next beat the world number 2, Jocky Wilson in the semi-final. His opponent in the final was the world number 1, Eric Bristow. With 1 dart to throw, Eric required 50 - a one dart outshout using the bull - to win the match. With Keith requiring 138, he chose to throw an 18 to leave 32. He hoped to have 3 chances to hit double 16 on his next throw. Keith had other ideas. He hit treble 20, treble 18 and double 12 to win the world championship.
Not every final has been as exciting as that one but every year there are exciting matches.
My next blog will include an interview with the Suffolk qualifier, Jason Mold.
No comments:
Post a Comment