Leo Laurens (born 30 July 1952) is a professional Belgian former

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

player who competed in

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(BDO) events. At the end of 1993, he was number one in the WDF world rankings after all of the BDO's top players broke away to form the World Darts Council (now 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 World ...

, PDC). Despite his new accolade, Laurens never won a major title.

Career

Laurens made his World Championship debut in 1989, losing in the first round to

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Rick Ney Richard "Rick" Ney (May 21, 1961 – April 9, 2017) was an American professional darts player who has competed members in the 1980s and 1990s. Career Ney reached the final of the prestigious News of the World Darts Championship in 1986 losing ...

. He returned a year later, beating

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's Bob Sinnaeve, before losing to

Mike Gregory Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for Warrington from 1982 to 1994, and won 20 caps fo ...

. His best performance came in 1997, where he reached the quarter-finals after beating

Ritchie Davies Ritchie Davies (born 27 November 1971) is a Welsh former professional darts player from Aberdare. He is best known for his run at the 2003 BDO World Darts Championship, where he reached the final. Career Davies made his World Championship debu ...

and Richie Burnett. He lost to reigning champion

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He won the BDO World Darts Championship in 1996 and is a former World No. 1. Background Beaton was born in Co ...

. Laurens also holds the record for most 180's scored in a first-round match at the World Championship, with nine, although John Henderson holds the record for a best of 5 sets match with 12. He also played in the

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 th ...

in 1988, 1993, and 1995, losing in the first round on each occasion.

World Championship performances

BDO

*1989: 1st round (lost to

1–3) (sets) *1990: 2nd round (lost to

1–3) *1994: 2nd round (lost to

Magnus Caris Magnus Caris (born 15 November 1968) is a Swedish former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. BDO career Caris made seven BDO World Darts Championship appea ...

0–3) *1996: 1st round (lost to

Raymond van Barneveld Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player. Nicknamed Barney, although originally known as The Man, he is one of the most successful darts players in history. Van Barneveld is a five-time World Darts Champ ...

0–3) *1997: Quarter-finals (lost to

3–4)

References

External links

Stats on Darts Database
Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Belgian darts players British Darts Organisation players People from Heist-op-den-Berg 1952 births Sportspeople from Antwerp Province {{Belgium-sport-bio-stub