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MULTI-MILLION TV AUDIENCES FOR 2008 BDO
LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL DARTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The largest
global audience for darts watched MARK WEBSTER become the third Welshman to be
crowned BDO World Professional Darts Champion – but the first ever from North
Wales – and ANASTASIA DOBROMYSLOVA crowned
the first ever Russian BDO World Professional Women’s Darts Champion.
BBC viewing
figures for the Lakeside Men’s final peaked at 4.1 million, which represented a
15% share of the overall audience.
Throughout
Lakeside week there was an average BBC audience
of 1.5 million, with peaks of 1.7 million for the live Ted Hankey/Steve West
match, and 2.1 million for the epic
battled between defending 2007 Champion Martin Adams and 2007 World Masters
Champion Robert Thornton of Scotland.
The two live
Semi-Finals enjoyed audiences of 2.6 million and 2.1 million respectively and
every single dart thrown was seen by digital viewers to BBCi.
In addition,
the global audience was enhanced by comprehensive coverage from SBS-6 in
Holland, by Eurosport (available in 104 million outlets
worldwide) and to some seventy countries via BBC Worldwide.
Collectively, this produced the largest TV audience for darts anywhere in
the world.
Mark Webster
lives in Denbigh and plays his County darts for Clywd, as does Anastasia, the
Russian darts sensation who ended the magnificent seven year unbeaten reign of
England’s Trina Gulliver.
It means that
for the first time ever, the two reigning BDO World Professional Champions will
be playing in the same County side.
“I can’t tell you how delighted I am to
win this great title”, says Mark. “It means so much to me to be 2008 BDO World
Professional Darts Champion. How
special is that?
“Bringing it
home to Wales also fills me with pride – but even more so to be the first ever
World Champion from North Wales, and the first
left-hander to win the title since Les Wallace in 1997.
“I am also
over the moon for Anastasia, because our next County home game for Clywd will be
an all-Welsh match against Gwynedd on February 2nd, and we will be
lining up as the reigning 2008 BDO World Champions.
“It has never
happened before and I reckon we will probably feel as much pressure (well
almost) as we did on that famous Lakeside
stage!”
Mark is the
only player from North Wales to win the most
famous title in world darts. The
first ever BDO World Professional Darts Champion was the late Leighton Rees in
1978, and 17 years later Richie Burnett took the title back to Wales in 1995.
Both were from the Welsh
Valleys.
Mark Webster
is 24 and Anastasia Dobromyslova is just 23. They are the 2008 BDO Lakeside
World Professional Darts Champions, and proudly represent the British Darts
Organisation system which continues to look after the future of darts.
For the past
35 years, the BDO has provided the sport of darts for players of all abilities –
men, women and youth – and as 2008 World Professional Champions, Mark Webster
and Anastasia Dobromyslova are at the very forefront of an exciting and youthful
era for BDO darts.
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