Lionel Jeffrey Sams (born 20 January 1961 in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is a former

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 previously played in 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) tournaments. His nickname was The Lion for his matches. Since 2011, he played for the

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). Sams' first televised darts match was on

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

in 1986 at the

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...

Festival (British Matchplay). He reached the final, but lost to

Terry O'Dea Terence "Terry" O'Dea (3 May 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Australian professional darts player who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Darts career O'Dea rejoined of the BDO in March 1978. O'Dea played in ten successive BDO World Darts Champions ...

. He then had some minor tournament victories including the Camber Sands Singles (1988) and Kent Open (1988 and 1989) but it was a long time before he made any impact on the darts circuit.

Professional Darts Corporation career

His career turned for the better after joining the PDC. He hit a perfect nine-dart leg in a match against

Ronnie Baxter Ronnie Baxter (born 5 February 1961) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He used the nickname "The Rocket" for his matches. Baxter was known for his fast robotic throwing a ...

in Montreal in May 2002 – there was no prize for the achievement, but players passed round a hat to collect $400. He qualified for the PDC World Championship for the first time in 2004 and beat Roland Scholten before losing to Simon Whatley in the last 16. Sams consistently reached the last 16 of tournaments on the PDC circuit, which helped him to maintain a

world ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

inside the top 32. He was seeded 16th in 2006 and 22nd in 2007 for the World Championship as a result. Sams was successful at the West Tyrone Open in February 2007, winning the singles and the doubles event, with Sean McGowan.

Career decline

Sams' record at the World Championship has been poor since reaching the last 16 in 2004 and he lost his first match at each of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Championships. He also failed to achieve success in the other televised tournaments, being unable to reach the quarter-final stage of any of the majors. He slipped outside the top 32 towards the end of 2007, and as a result, he inadvertently failed to enter himself for the qualifying rounds for the 2008 World Championship, missing out on the tournament for the first time since 2003. He has failed to qualify for the PDC World Championship since 2007. During 2009, he reached two quarter finals 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 players ...

, but ended the year with only £6,100 in total prize money. He had a further decline in 2010, picking up just £600 in total prize money, as he entered fewer events and then failed to get past the last 64 stage of any Pro Tour Event. His PDC ranking fell to near 100 at the start of 2011 and he chose to decline a Pro Tour card for the year, effectively ending his PDC career. He joined the British Darts Organisation circuit in 2011.

World Championship Results

PDC

*2004: 4th Round (lost to Simon Whatley 1–4) (sets) *2005: 3rd Round (lost to

Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...

1–4) *2006: 1st Round (lost to

John Kuczynski John Kuczynski (born October 16, 1973 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania) is a former American professional darts player. He currently resides in Zion Grove, Pennsylvania and used the nickname Johnny K for his matches. Career For five years running ...

0–3) *2007: 1st Round (lost to

Dave Ladley Dave Ladley (born 29 September 1975) is an English darts player that competes in Professional Darts Corporation events. Career Ladley joined the PDC in 2002, and qualified for the 2004 UK Open, where he lost to Barrie Bates in the second rou ...

1–3)

References

External links

Lionel Sams' website

Lionel Sams' profile and statistics on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sams, Lionel 1961 births English darts players Living people People from Paddington British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders