Kevin Spiolek (born 5 May 1962 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

) is a retired English professional darts 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

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

Winmau World Masters The World Masters is one of the longest-running and most prestigious of the BDO/WDF tournaments, which began in 1974. The tournament is sponsored by darts board manufacturer, Winmau. The World Masters was unusual in darts in that its sets are t ...

, 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 ten 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 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 Wor ...

). In 1994, he reached the final of the Greene King 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 The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four player ...

, 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)

PDC

*1994: Last 24 Group (beat

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

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 played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Career Originally from Oregon, Downs first competed in the BDO World Darts Championship in 1993, where ...

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. He used the nickname Bravedart for his matches – a play on ...

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

Career finals

Independent major finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

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