Friday 30th November 2007

LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL 2008: ORDER OF PLAY

The order of play for the first round matches at the 2008 Lakeside World Pro was announced today. Please note that all times shown are in GMT.

Wednesday 28th November 2007

BDO WEBSITE: MIGRATION TO NEW SERVER

Our service providers (Velocity Networks) have informed us that they expect be migrating our site to its new server within the next 48 hours. When this is completed it is expected that all updates made since 11th November will be lost. This will mean that information such as results and tables will be out of date until we are able to upload the current files again. This will be done as quickly as possible. We apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

Friday 23rd November 2007

LAKESIDE COUNTRY CLUB CONTINUE AS WORLD PRO TITLE SPONSOR TO 2010

LAKESIDE COUNTRY CLUB has announced that it is extending its title sponsorship of the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships to 2010.

This follows the recent announcement by Bob Potter, OBE, proprietor of Lakeside, that prize money for the 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships is being increased to a record-breaking available prize fund of £310,000 “2008 will be our 23rd year as hosts of the World Pro, and our fifth consecutive year as main title sponsors”, says Bob Potter,” and I am delighted that Lakeside is known around the globe as ‘the home of world darts’. “We are currently celebrating Lakeside’s 35th anniversary year, during which time we have played host to some of the world’s greatest show business stars. But no matter where I go, everyone instantly recognises Lakeside Country Club as the home of the greatest Championships in world darts. “I am proud of that fact and also of the continued success of the World Championships, thanks to the British Darts Organisation, BBC TV, the players, and all those associated with bringing the very best in world darts to the public”. BBC TV Sport has already extended its contract with the British Darts Organisation to continue its coverage of the World Professional until 2010. The World Pro has been screened annually by the BBC since 1978, making it the world’s longest established and most prestigious televised darts Championship. Olly Croft, OBE, Managing Director of BDO Enterprises Ltd says: “Bob and his partner Barbara Leitch are an integral part of the famous BDO ‘family’, and we are delighted with their continued support of the World Pro. “Lakeside is the undisputed home of a true World Championship that can boast all the history and kudos of our sport and its players.  The extension to the contract will take Lakeside to its 25th anniversary year as hosts of the World Pro.” The 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships will be staged by the British Darts Organisation and televised by BBC TV for nine consecutive days from January 5th to 13th, 2008.

Tuesday 20th November 2007

ANOTHER WONDERFUL WINMAU WORLD MASTERS AT BRIDLINGTON

The 2007 WINMAU WORLD MASTERS had everything, from excellent BBC viewing figures to a televised 9-Dart 501checkout from John Boy Walton, and an unseeded 2007 Men’s Master in Scotland’s Robert Thornton, who has now gained automatic entry into the 2008 Lakeside World Professional – in which he has been drawn to play John Walton in the First Round on Saturday, January 5^th.

There were also two maximum 170 checkouts from John Walton and Darryl Fitton, and a single dart average of thirty-one plus for the Men’s televised stage matches.

BBC-1 viewing figures averaged at 1.2 million (11.8% share of the available audience) on Saturday, November 17^th and peaked at 1.6 million (12.8% share of the audience).

On Sunday, November 18^th, the BBC-2 audience averaged 1.5 million (10.4% share), with an audience peak of 1.9 million (10.2% share) for the exciting final between Scotland’s Robert Thornton and England’s Darryl Fitton.

The high-scoring Scot enjoyed victory over three seeds: No.1 Seed Martin Adams, who he beat 3-1 in the Quarter-Finals with a 32.47 single dart average; No.4 Seed Martin Atkins who he beat

6-1 in the Semi-Final with a 32.39 single dart average, and No.6 Seed Darryl Fitton, who he beat 7-5 in an exciting final which produced 15 maximums and a single dart average of 31.42 for Robert Thornton and 31.76 for Darryl Fitton.

For Robert Thornton it was not only his first ever victory in a World  major, but also the biggest winning cheque of  his career - £25,000 - and automatic entry into the 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship at Lakeside Country Club from January 5^th to 13^th.

By an incredible coincidence, when he last played at Lakeside in 2005, he triumphed over Martin Atkins in the First Round and went on to reach the Quarter-Final  – where he was beaten 5-0 by Darryl Fitton.

The Walton 9-Darter came in the very last leg of his victory over Martin Phillips of Wales and was the classic 2 x 180’s, t20, t19 and d12. When the winning double 12 went in, the capacity crowd in Leisure World, Bridlington rose to their feet to acclaim the Yorkshireman, who won the famous World Masters title in 2000.

The four 2007 Winmau World Masters Champions are:

ROBERT THORNTON (Scotland): 2007 Men’s World Master.

KARIN KRAPPEN (Neth): 2007 Women’s World Master.

SHAUN GRIFFITHS (Eng): 2007 Boys World Master.

KIMBERLEY LEWIS (Wales): 2007 Girls World Master, who won the title for the second year in succession.

Sponsored by the Winmau Dartboard Company, in association with JJB Sports, the 2007 Winmau World Masters was staged by the British Darts Organisation and supported by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Sunday 18th November 2007

WINMAU WORLD MASTERS: FINALS DAY

Get all the latest results .... here

ROBERT THORNTON TAKES THE MASTERS TITLE FOR SCOTLAND

Photo courtesy of Yvonne Andrews

Scotland's Robert Thornton caused a major sensation when he lifted the Winmau World Masters title after a thrilling 7 sets to 5 win over England's Darryl Fitton. Thornton produced darts of exceptional quality in all his stage matches with winning averages of 32.26 against Co Stompe, 32.47 against Martin Adams, and 32.39 against Martin Atkins.

KARIN KRAPPEN IS THE WOMEN'S WORLD MASTER

Photos by courtesy of Yvonne Andrews

Saturday 17th November 2007

WINMAU WORLD MASTERS

	NINE DARTER FOR JOHN BOY England's John "Boy" Walton ended his match against Welshman Martin Phillips in the best possible way:- with a nine darter. Walton chose the "classic" route for his perfect leg. After hitting the required 2 x 180's he then hit T20,  T19, and D12. John "Boy" will play England team mate Tony O'Shea in the next round.
Photo courtesy of Yvonne Andrews

SHAUN GRIFFITHS and KIMBERLEY LEWIS ARE THE WORLD YOUTH MASTERS 2007

Photos courtesy of Yvonne Andrews

LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL 2008: DRAW

The Draw for the 2008 Lakeside World Pro was made this morning. The table below shows the draw and the days on which the matches will be played on. The order of play and match times will be announced later.

Monday 12th November 2007

WORLD CHAMPIONS AND NEW FACES FOR 31st BDO WORLD PROFESSIONAL

Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey:

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5^TH to SUNDAY, JANUARY 13^TH, 2008

The 31^st consecutive BDO World Professional Darts Championship will maintain its proud tradition with a 2008 Lakeside line-up that will include World Champions, top ranked BDO players, and a host of faces new to the most famous stage in World Darts at Lakeside Country Club.

Players from thirty-two countries have participated down to the final stages of the 2008 Men’s World Pro, and the sixteen seeded players include three World Champions: Reigning 2007 Champion MARTIN ADAMS, 2000 Champion TED HANKEY and 2001 Champion JOHN WALTON, plus four Dutch stars: CO STOMPE, MARIO ROBBE, NIELS de RUITER and, making his World Pro debut, EDWIN MAX.

There is also a welcome return for TONY DAVID, the first ever Australian to win the title in 2002, as well as World Pro debuts for England’s mercurial SCOTT WAITES (making his Lakeside entrance as No.3 Seed), STEVE WEST and ANDY BOULTON, Canada’s No.1 CARL MERCER, and joining his fellow countrymen, Dutch debutant REMCO van EIJDEN.

MARK WEBSTER, the newly crowned Prince of Welsh Darts, made his Lakeside debut in the 2007 World Pro, and returns in 2008 as the No.1 Seed after an amazing season when, as well as winning the Welsh Open, Welsh Classic and Canada Open, he has been crowned both WDF Europe Cup and WDF World Cup Singles Champion.

Scotland’s GARY ANDERSON has also had a great year to maintain his No.2 Seeding from 2007, including outstanding victories in the two major Dutch tournaments - the IDL and WDT.  And England’s SCOTT WAITES makes his Lakeside debut as No.3 Seed, having won both the Dutch Open and Welsh Masters this year.

The players who have qualified for invitation to the First Round Proper of the 2008 Men’s World Professional Darts Championship, in Seed and alphabetical order, are as follows:

SEEDED PLAYERS:

No.1:              MARK WEBSTER (Wales)

No.2:              GARY ANDERSON (Scotland)                           

No.3:              SCOTT WAITES (England)

No.4:              MARTIN ADAMS (England)

No.5:              TONY O’SHEA (England)

No.6:              CO STOMPE (Netherlands)

No.7:              TED HANKEY (England)

No.8:              GARY ROBSON (England)

No.9:              DARRYL FITTON (England)

No.10:            MARTIN ATKINS (England)

No.11:            BRIAN WOODS (England)

No.12:            JOHN WALTON (England)

No.13:            SHAUN GREATBATCH (England)

No.14:            MARIO ROBBE (Netherlands)

No.15:            EDWIN MAX (Netherlands)

No.16:            NIELS DE RUITER (Netherlands)

Unseed Players (Alphabetical)

Andy Boulton (England)                               

Tony David (Australia)

Remco van Eijden (Netherlands)

Steve Farmer (England)

Paul Hanvidge (Scotland)

Carl Mercer (Canada)                                             

Phill Nixon (England)

Martin Phillips (Wales)

Davy Richardson (England)

Steve West (England)

Simon Whitlock (Australia)                         

PLUS:

Winmau World Masters 2007 Men’s Champion/or Standby player.

Four Qualifiers from the International Play-Offs at Leisure World, Bridlington on November 15^th.

For the first time since its inception in 2001, the Women’s World Pro will not have Trina Gulliver as No.1 Seed. Despite winning the Dutch Open, Welsh Open and British Pentathlon for the third consecutive year, she is No.2 Seed in 2008.

The Women players, who have qualified for invitation to the 8^th consecutive Women’s World Professional Championship are:

Seeded Players:

No.1:   FRANCIS HOENSELAAR (Netherlands)

No.2:   TRINA GULLIVER (England)        

No.3:   KARIN KRAPPEN (Netherlands)

No.4   ANASTASIA DOBROMYSLOVA (Russia)

Unseeded Players:

Julie Gore (Wales)
Winmau World Masters Women’s Champion/or Standby
Plus two Qualifiers from the International Play-Offs.

There will be more than fifty hours of coverage over nine consecutives day on BBC TV, including live darts every day, and a variety of daytime and evening  recorded highlights and features to suit the lifestyles of all viewers.

Every dart thrown can be seen at the touch of the red-button on remote controls by BBCi digital viewers.With comprehensive coverage on SBS-6 in Holland and throughout Europe on Eurosport, plus global sales to some 70 countries via BBC Worldwide, the 2008 Lakeside World Professional will be seen by the largest combined TV audience for darts in the world.

Staged and promoted by the British Darts Organisation, the World Pro is sponsored and staged at  ‘the home of World Darts’,  Lakeside Country Club from Saturday, January 5^th to Sunday, January 13^th, 2008.

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NEWS IN BRIEF:

Gary Anderson and Denise Cassidy claimed the Singles titles at the 2007 Northern Ireland Open. England's Darryl Fitton was the losing Men's finalist for the second year running. Runner up in the Women's Singles was Trina Gulliver.

German stars Karsten Koch and Marko Puls hit a 9 dart leg in the final of this weekends round of the German National League. It was Karsten who hit the opening 180 and the 141 finish (T20-T19-D12) while Marko supplied the second 180.

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Thursday 8th November 2007

LAKESIDE WOMEN'S WORLD PROFESSIONAL PLAY-OFFS

Links to the Women's Play-off draw can be found .... here.

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Wednesday 7th November 2007

LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL PLAY-OFFS

The Play-off draw for the qualifying places for the 2008 Lakeside World Professional Championships was conducted at BDO headquarters today. The draw for all groups can be seen below.

Men: Groups 1-1A

Men: Groups 2-2A

Men: Groups 3-3A

Men:Groups 4-4A

The Women's Draw will be available online tomorrow.

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Tuesday 6th November 2007

LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL: INTERNATIONAL PLAY-OFFS

The lists below contain the names of all players from outside the United Kingdom who are entered for the Lakeside World Professional Play-offs which will take place on Thursday 15th November 2007. If your name is not on the list and you think it should be, please contact the BDO Office immediately. The draw will be done tomorrow.

                               Mens Play-offs                Women's Play-offs

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WORLD CHAMPIONS TO LAUNCH 34^TH WINMAU WORLD MASTERS ON BBC TV

Martin Adams, the reigning BDO World Professional Darts Champion, will launch the richest two-day darts event on British terrestrial televison - the 34th Winmau World Men’s Masters from Leisure World, Bridlington - on Saturday, November 17th. The No.1 Seed will open extensive BBC TV coverage of the oldest established major in the history of World Darts at

1.05 PM on Saturday, November 17th in a best of 5 Sets (3 legs per set) Last 16 match, live on BBC-1 from the stage of Leisure World, Bridlington. His match will be immediately followed by BBC-1’s second live match of the afternoon, featuring one of the sports biggest characters, Millennium World Pro Champion and No.5 Seed, TED HANKEY. To add to the drama and excitement, the respective opponents of all eight seeded players will not be known until after the Group matches have been played on Friday, November 16th. Coverage of the Men’s World Masters up to and including the Quarter-Finals, will continue on BBC-1 until 4.30PM on Saturday, November 17th, and will include the matches featuring all eight Seeded players: No.1:  MARTIN ADAMS No.5:   TED HANKEY No.2 : TONY O’SHEA No.6:   DARRYL FITTON No.3:  GARY ROBSON No.7:   JOHN WALTON No.4:   MARTIN ATKINS No.8:   CO STOMPE Live coverage of the Men’s World Masters will continue on BBC-2 on Sunday, November 18th from 1.30PM to 5.15PM, starting with the Semi-Finals (best of 11 sets) and concluding with the Men’s Final (best of 13 sets). There will be more than seven hours of BBC TV coverage over the weekend of November 17th and 18th, and the richest ever two-day darts event on British terrestrial TV will have prize money of £60,000 –  with the 2007 Men’s World Masters Champion picking up a cheque for £25,000. To confirm its undisputed world status within the global sport of darts, players from seventy countries have been invited to participate in this year’s Winmau World Masters, including the current Champions of over 150 National and International Singles events. In addition to the top recognised BDO players, the 2007 Men’s World Masters also includes qualifiers from the England, Scotland and Wales National play-offs, and from over twenty worldwide National play-offs. The 34th Winmau World Masters, sponsored by the Winmau Dartboard Company, in association with JJB Sports, and supported by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, is organised and promoted by the British Darts Organisation. It is the only major in the world to have four separate finals – Men’s, Women’s, Boys and Girls – and will be played at Leisure World, Bridlington on November 16th (multi-board matches) and November 17th & 18th (featuring BBC televised stage matches from the Last 16 of the Men’s Masters). 2007 SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH: 9AM                 DOORS OPEN 11AM               TOE-THE-OCHE: Players from over thirty countries play on a                         multi-board system to qualify for the stage matches to be played                         on Saturday and Sunday. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17THth: Stage Matches 8AM                             DOORS OPEN 9AM                             GIRLS FINAL (BEST OF 5 LEGS) + PRESENTATION 9.30AM                        BOYS FINAL (BEST OF 5 LEGS) + PRESENTATION 10AM-2PM                    MEN’S LAST 16  (BEST OF 5 SETS) 2PM:                            INTERVAL                                       2.20-4.30PM                MEN’S QUARTER-FINALS (BEST OF 5 SETS) 4.30PM Approx:           PRESENTATION TO LOSING QUARTER-FINALISTS +                                       CONCLUSION. SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 18TH: LIVE BBC TV COVERAGE OF MEN’S STAGE MATCHES 10AM                           DOORS OPEN 11AM                           WOMEN’S SEMI-FINALS (BEST OF 7 LEGS) 12 noon                       WOMEN’S FINAL (BEST OF 7 LEGS) +PRESENTATION 1PM                             MEN’S SEMI-FINALS (BEST OF 11 SETS) 4PM                             INTERVAL 4.10PM                        MEN’S FINAL (BEST OF 13 SETS) Plus tie-breaker. 5.15PM                        PRESENTATION 5.45PM                        CONCLUSION (All times are for guidance only and the BDO reserve the right to change the schedule). LIVE BBC TV COVERAGE OF MEN’S STAGE MATCHES 2007 PRIZE MONEY: MEN’S MASTERS CHAMPION: £25,000  RUNNER-UP £10,000 JOINT 3RD £  3,000 x 2 JOINT 5TH  £  1,250 x 4 JOINT 9TH   £     500 x 8 TOTAL MEN’S PRIZE MONEY:               £50,000 WOMEN’S MASTERS CHAMPION £5,000 RUNNER-UP £1,500 JOINT 3RD  £   750 x 2 JOINT 5TH £   500 x 4     TOTAL WOMEN’S PRIZE MONEY: £10,000 PRIZE MONEY GRAND TOTAL:  £60,000 BDO Achievement Award for Televised 9-Dart  501 £2,000 2008 LAKESIDE INTERNATIONAL PLAY-OFFS The International Play-Offs for the 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships will take place on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15th at Leisure World, Bridlington (multi-board)Doors will open at 11AM and play starts at 1PM. LIVE 2008 LAKESIDE MEN’S & WOMEN’S DRAWS: The Men’s and Women’s  Draws for the 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships will be made live on stage at Leisure World by Bob Potter and Barbara Leitch of Lakeside Country Club, on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH  at approx 10AM. To confirm its status as the premier Championship in World Darts, players from over thirty countries will have competed for the coveted thirty-two places in the 2008 Lakeside Men’s World Professional Darts Championship.

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Friday 2nd November 2007

COUNTY QUALIFIERS FOR THE LAKESIDE WORLD PROFESSIONAL PLAY-OFFS

The links below contain lists of all players who have been entered for the Lakeside World Professional Play-Offs which will be held at "Leisure World" Bridlington on Thursday 15th November.

All players who have qualified to play should check the lists to ensure that their names are included. Any player who has qualified and who is not on the list should contact the BDO Office immediately.

List of Men's qualifiers

List of Women's qualifiers

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