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2019 World Matchplay
The 2019 Betfred World Matchplay was the 26th annual staging of the World Matchplay, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The tournament took place at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, from 20–28 July 2019. Gary Anderson was the defending champion, after defeating Mensur Suljović 21–19 after extra time in the longest final in the tournament's history. However, he lost 11–8 to Mervyn King in the second round. Rob Cross won his first World Matchplay title with an 18–13 win over Michael Smith in the final. He also became just the fourth player in history to win both the PDC World Championship and the World Matchplay. Prize money The prize fund rose from £500,000 to £700,000, with the winner's earnings being up from £115,000 in 2018 to £150,000. Format In previous stagings of the event all games had to be won by two clear legs with no sudden-death legs. However, after consulting the host broadcaster Sky Sports in 2013, the PDC decided that games will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Gardens, Blackpool
The Winter Gardens is a large entertainment complex in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which includes a theatre, ballroom and conference facilities. Opened in 1878, it is a Listed building, Grade II* listed building, operated by Blackpool Entertainment Company Limited on behalf of Blackpool Council, which purchased the property from Leisure Parcs Ltd as part of a £40 million deal in 2010. The Winter Gardens has hosted the annual conferences of British political parties and trade unions and its owners claim that every Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister since World War II has addressed an audience at the venue. It has also hosted the Blackpool Dance Festival since its inception in 1920, and the World Matchplay (darts), World Matchplay darts tournament since 1994. The annual dance competitions Miss Dance of Great Britain and Dance Master UK are hosted there annually. History The Winter Gardens Company bought the site in 1875 for £28,000. The Winter Gardens was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2019 PDC Pro Tour
The 2019 PDC Pro Tour was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Players Championships and European Tour events are the events that make up the Pro Tour. There were 43 PDC ProTour events held, 30 Players Championships and 13 European Tour events. There used to be UK Open qualifiers as part of this list, but they were abolished in September 2018 as the UK Open was made exclusive for the 128 Tour Card holders, 16 Challenge Tour qualifiers and 16 Riley's qualifiers. This page also includes results from the PDC's affiliated tours including the Development and Challenge Tours and all the regional tours as well as the results from the World Championship regional qualifiers. There were 20 Challenge Tour events, 20 Development Tour events, 10 PDC Nordic & Baltic Events, 12 PDC Asia Events, 30 Dartplayers Australia ProTour events, 6 EuroAsian Darts Corporation ProTour Events and 10 Championship Darts Circuit ProTour events during th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ricky Evans (darts Player)
Ricky Evans (born 29 July 1990) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career From 2007 to 2012 Evans attempted to qualify for each BDO World Championship but was unsuccessful. In 2011, Evans won a PDC Youth Tour event by beating David Coyne 4–1 in the final. He has played in the World Masters five times with his best finish coming in 2012 where he lost in the last 48 to James Wilson. In 2013, Evans played in the Qualifying School to earn a tour card for the Professional Darts Corporation events and succeeded on the first day. Less than two months later he reached the quarter-finals of a PDC Pro Tour event for the first time by beating Gary Anderson 6–5 in the last 16 of the second UK Open Qualifier, before he lost 6–3 to Peter Wright. This saw him enter the UK Open in the second round stage where he was defeated 5–2 by Joe Cullen. Evans won through to the final of the World Under-21 World Championship which was p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krzysztof Ratajski
Krzysztof Ratajski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 1 January 1977) is a Polish professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2017 World Masters. Ratajski also plays on the Professional Darts Corporation's ProTour and has represented Poland at the PDC World Cup of Darts on numerous occasions. He is the most successful darts player to come from Poland. Career Ratajski's first major run came in the 2007 Czech Open where he reached the semi finals. He gained notable wins over Joey ten Berge and local player Marek Polak, eventually losing to Patrick Loos who won the tournament. He then went on to win the 2008 Denmark Open, a tournament previously won by the likes of John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld. He defeated Hungary's Nándor Bezzeg, Finland's Marko Kantele and Belgian Geert De Vos en route to the final where he beat Fabian Roosenbrand. On 4 December 2008 Ratajski qu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas in 2005, but he was unable to collect the money as he was 20 years old, below the US legal gambling age of 21. During the early part of his career until 2007, Lewis was a protégé of 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, with whom he practised in their home city Stoke-on-Trent. He made his television debut in 2004, aged 19 at the UK Open. In addition to his two world championships, Lewis has won two other PDC majors: the 2013 European Championship and the 2014 UK Open. He is also a four-time winner of the PDC World Cup of Darts, partnering Phil Taylor. In February 2018, Lewis was suspended by the PDC after an altercation following his win over José Justicia at the 2018 UK Open Qualifier 1. Six days later Lewis issued a statement apol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darren Webster
Darren Michael Webster (born 10 June 1968) is an English darts player nicknamed Demolition Man. Career Webster won the 2005 Open Oust Nederland, beating Co Stompé in the final. Originally nicknamed The Sniper, Webster reached the quarter-finals of the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship, where he beat former champion Bob Anderson, Adrian Gray and South African Wynand Havenga, before being beaten 5–1 by Phil Taylor. Webster reached the last 16 at the 2007 UK Open. He beat Andy Hamilton and James Wade, before losing to Alan Green. In December 2013, Webster lost to James Wade in the first round of the 2014 World Championship, despite leading 2 sets to 1 (first to 3). He missed six darts to win the match, to which Wade responded in three straight legs, thus winning the match. He played in the World Matchplay for the first time since 2005 and was beaten 10–4 by Taylor in the first round. Webster's resurgence of form also saw him play in his first World Grand Prix and Grand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonny Clayton
Jonny Clayton (born 4 October 1974) is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed The Ferret, he was half of the Welsh team that won the 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts before winning his first televised singles title, the 2021 Masters, which would lead him to qualifying for the 2021 Premier League Darts, which he would go on to win as well. He subsequently won his first ranked televised title at the 2021 World Grand Prix. Career 2015 Clayton joined the PDC Pro Tour in 2015 after winning a Tour Card on the final day of Qualifying School against Jake Strong in a 6-0 whitewash, a result that "Strongy" seems to replicate on many occasions. His first quarter-final came at the sixth Players Championship event and he lost 6–1 to Benito van de Pas. Clayton qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts later that year, but despite winning his opening match against Terry Jenkins, he went on to finish bottom of his group. 2016 Clayton' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall (born 15 July 1991) is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the 2019 UK Open with a 170 checkout in the final leg against former World Champion Rob Cross. Career Aspinall began playing in PDC Development and Challenge Tour events in 2012. His first semi-final in those came in 2013, where he lost 4–2 to Max Hopp. He won a two-year PDC Tour Card in 2015 through the Q School Order of Merit and qualified for the UK Open, where he beat Chris Dobey 5–1 and James Richardson 9–4, before losing 4–9 to James Wade in the fourth round. Aspinall's first European Tour appearance was at the Dutch Darts Masters and he squeezed past Jamie Robinson and Vincent van der Voort both 6–5. In the third round Justin Pipe eliminated him 6–4. Aspinall won the seventh Development Tour event of 2015 with a 4–2 victory over Benito van de Pas. He also lost in the final of two other events during the year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Chisnall
Dave Chisnall (born 12 September 1980) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He began his career in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and was the runner-up in their World Championship in 2010. He switched to the PDC a year later where he has since reached six major TV finals and won 17 PDC ranking events. Since his switch to the PDC, Chisnall has been a staple in the top 20 of the rankings, appearing in the Premier League five times, and representing England at the PDC World Cup on three occasions. Career Early career Chisnall was brought up in St Helens and played for a local football team until he was 17 when he broke his foot. He switched to darts and first played in a friend's bedroom, throwing 180 on his first ever visit to the board. His nickname ("Chizzy") actually originates from his work as a carpenter rather than his surname. His debut in BDO events came at the 2004 Welsh Open, losing in the last 32 to A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Whitlock
Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments, having also played in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) between 2004 and 2009. He uses the nickname The Wizard for his matches. His walk-on music is "Down Under" by Men at Work. His greatest achievements to date are winning the 2012 European Championship and 2022 World Cup of Darts for Australia with Damon Heta. Whitlock has also finished runner-up at the 2008 BDO World Darts Championship and the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship. He claimed that the prize money gained from the latter tournament which included money for the highest checkout (joint with Phil Taylor) would allow him to move over to the UK from Australia and compete on the PDC Pro Tour. His defeat also made him the first, and only, player to have never won a World Championship after reaching both the BDO and PDC World Championship Final. Early darts career He reached ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian White (darts Player)
Ian White (born 17 August 1970), nicknamed Diamond, is an English professional darts player currently playing in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. White is the winner of 13 PDC ranking events, and has reached many quarter-finals in majors. In 2019, he reached his first major semi final. Career In 1997, White reached the final of the PDC's revived News of the World Darts Championship. He defeated Des Byrne, Gary Spedding, Peter Manley and Andy Jenkins on the way to the final, where he was defeated by Phil Taylor. White won the Antwerp Open, Denmark Open and the English National Championship in 2009. He qualified for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, but lost 0-3 in the first round to Stephen Bunting. Shortly afterwards, he left the BDO and joined the PDC, when fellow Stoke player Adrian Lewis offered to sponsor White and suggested he was capable of being in the world's top eight. A solid first year in the PDC saw him reach the semi-finals of a Pro Tour event i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Wade
James Martin Wade (born 6 April 1983) is an English professional darts player, currently playing in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He became the youngest player to win a major PDC title, when he won the 2007 World Matchplay at the age of 24. This record has since been broken by Michael van Gerwen. Wade has won eleven PDC majors, third in the all-time list behind Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen. He is widely considered one of the best left handed darts players of all time. Wade has also won the World Grand Prix in 2007 and 2010, the UK Open in 2008, 2011 and 2021, the Premier League in 2009, the Championship League in 2010, the Masters in 2014, the European Championship and the World Series of Darts Finals in 2018. Wade has had a career-high ranking of second in the PDC Order of Merit. He has yet to win the PDC World Darts Championship, reaching the semi finals four times, which is being his best result. Wade started his career in the British Darts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
