Gayl King (born 29 December 1963) is a Canadian former professional darts player. She was the first woman to be invited by the darts organization

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...

(PDC) to complete in the

PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Cazoo World Darts Championship, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), is a World Professional Darts Championship held annually in the sport of darts. The PD ...

in the 2001 tournament and was the winner of several regional and national darts competitions in Canada.

Personal background

King was born and raised in a small community in the Canadian province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and has fourteen siblings. She has two grown-up sons, and worked as a bookkeeper for a restaurant chain in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

prior to her debut in the

Darts career

King was introduced to the throwing game of darts by one of her older sisters Mary; her brother-in-law provided her with an instructional book which strengthened her interest in the sport. She made her British Darts Organisation debut in the 1989

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

where she was defeated in the preliminary round by Linda Beaver. She finished runner-up to Lillian Skears in the 1995 Klondike Open and repeated the result to Lorraine Colenutt in the 1996 contest. In 1997, King paired with Kim Whaley to win the women's doubles events of the Klondike Open, adding to a success in the tournament's ladies' cricket pairs division with Terry Towey in 1995. Two years later she won the women's singles and the ladies' doubles of the Manitoba Open and the Saskatoon Open ladies' pairs and ladies' cricket pairs with Laurie Court. King played in the 1997 WDF World Cup Ladies Pairs tournament in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia with Patricia Farrell, where the duo lasted until the semi-finals. She also played for the Canadian national women's team. King went on to claim the singles, doubles and the mixed doubles divisions of the 2000 Canadian National Darts Championships, before she followed up with victories in the London Open in the singles and ladies pairs divisions, and that year's Ladies Canadian Open. She took a victory in the ladies cricket pairs and the mixed pairs divisions of the 2000 Klondike Open. King was runner-up to

Stacy Bromberg Stacy Bromberg (July 27, 1956 – February 12, 2017) was an American darts player who was a PDC Women's World Darts Champion. Bromberg was born in Los Angeles, California, and dominated the American darts circuit in the last decade through winnin ...

in that year's Windy City Open Ladies and reached the last 64 of the World Ladies Masters. She played in the 2000 BDO World Masters and reached the tournament's first round. After a PDC World Darts Championship play-off qualification round of eight women players due to be held in conjunction with the 2000 World Grand Prix tournament was cancelled, the

invited her to compete in the

2001 PDC World Darts Championship The 2001 PDC World Darts Championship (officially the 2001 Skol World Darts Championship) was a professional darts tournament held from 28 December 2000 and 3 January 2001 at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex, England. It was the eighth stagi ...

in Purfleet,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

; it began in December 2000 and lasted until January 2001 and the PDC council allowed women to compete in the event. It telephoned King and she accepted their invitation. She became the first woman to participate in the PDC world championship. King lost her first round match 3–1 to the world number 29 Graeme Stoddart. Later in 2001, King reached the last 16 of the WDF World Cup Singles where she was defeated by

Francis Hoenselaar Francisca ("Francis") Hoenselaar (born 15 January 1965 in Rotterdam, South Holland) is a retired Dutch professional darts player from the Netherlands. She was nicknamed ''The Dutch Crown''. A leading player in the women's game, Hoenselaar was ...

. She won the Ladies Canadian Open and the Klondike Open twice more over the next four years in the singles divisions. King also played in the

2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic The 2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic, promoted at the time as the Las Vegas Desert Classic III, was the third year that the Professional Darts Corporation held a major darts tournament in the United States. It was held between 30 June and July 4, 20 ...

and had her final two professional matches at the 2005 and 2006 editions of the Vauxhall Open.

Post-darts career

She retired from competitive darts after a shoulder injury caused her to lose the endurance required to play in tournaments. King found employment at a cheese-making company working as an administrative assistant.

World Championship results

PDC

* 2001: First Round: (lost to Graeme Stoddart 1–3) (sets)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Gayl 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Newfoundland and Labrador Female darts players Canadian darts players British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation associate players 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women