Kevin Spiolek (born 5 May 1962) is an English former professional

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

player who played during the 1980s and 1990s. He made a brief return to form in 2006 when qualifying to play in the PDC World Darts Championship.

Career

Spiolek's best form came in the late 1980s, when he reached the semi-finals of the 1987

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is a darts tournament, initially organised by the British Darts Organisation from 1974 and later by the World Darts Federation. It is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments. The tournament w ...

, losing to Bob Anderson. In 1988, Spiolek reached the final of the prestigious News of the World Darts Championship, losing to Mike Gregory. Spiolek is one of eleven players to have beaten Phil Taylor at the World Championship – having knocked him out in the second round at Lakeside in the 1993 World Championship – the last time that there was a unified World Championship. Spiolek was eliminated in the next round – to date, two quarter-finals are the best results he has achieved in World Championships. Spiolek was one of the 16 players in 1992–1993 who created their own organisation (the World Darts Council which later became the Professional Darts Corporation). In 1994, he reached the final of the Greene King UK Masters – losing to Taylor. Spiolek played in the first seven PDC World Championships after the split in the game with his best performance being another quarter-final in 1995. He reached the final of the North American Cup in 1996, and the quarter-finals of the World Matchplay in 1997, but then gradually faded from the scene. His performance in qualifying for the 2006 PDC World Championship (where he lost in the first round to Peter Manley) kept him in the top 100 of the PDC world rankings until January 2008. He had continued to play in the domestic Pro Tour events on the PDC circuit during 2005 and 2006 – playing in more than 10 events on the PDC Pro Tour, but he has remained inactive on the circuit since the Players Championship in

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in January 2007.

World Championship results

BDO

* 1993: Quarter-finals (lost to John Lowe 3–4) (sets)

PDC

* 1994: Last 24 Group (beat

Keith Deller Keith Deller (born 24 December 1959) is an English former professional darts player best known for winning the 1983 BDO World Darts Championship. He also won the Unipart British Professional Championship in 1987. He was the first qualifier t ...

3–1) & (lost to Steve Brown (USA) 0–3) * 1995: Quarter-finals (lost to Peter Evison 1–4) * 1996: Last 24 Group (lost to

Sean Downs Sean Downs (born February 6, 1967) is an American former professional darts player who has played in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Downs first competed in the BDO World Darts Champions ...

0–3) & (lost to

2–3) * 1997: Last 24 Group (lost to Dennis Smith 0–3) & (lost to

0–3) * 1998: Last 24 Group (lost to Phil Taylor 0–3) & (lost to Dennis Smith 0–3) * 1999: 1st Round (lost to Steve Brown (USA) 0–3) * 2000: 1st Round (lost to

Jamie Harvey Jamie Harvey (born 15 August 1955) is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. Originally nicknamed “The Tartan Terror” he later used ...

2–3) * 2006: 1st Round (lost to Peter Manley 0–3)

Career finals

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

External links

Profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiolek, Kevin 1962 births English darts players Living people Sportspeople from Cambridge English people of Polish descent Professional Darts Corporation founding players British Darts Organisation players