Martin Atkins (born 24 December 1965) is an English professional

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. His nickname is The Assassin.

Career

Atkins has been a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

county player since 1996 and has represented the England national side in many occasions including 3 times in the Six Nations, winning all three, and once in the World Cup in 2011, contributing to England's best performance since 1995. He reached the last 16 of the BDO

World Professional Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...

in both 2006 and 2007. In 2006 he led

Martin Adams Martin Adams (born 4 June 1956) is an English professional darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Nicknamed "Wolfie", he is a three-time BDO World Champion and three-time World Masters champion. He represents Cambridgesh ...

3–0 and had a match dart in the fifth leg of the fifth set, but ultimately lost 4–3. The following year, he was beaten by eventual finalist Phill Nixon

He was seeded number 10 for the 2008 BDO World Darts Championship. However, he lost in the first round to

Andy Boulton Andy Boulton (born 22 February 1973) is a Scottish professional darts player who plays in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He is nicknamed X-Factor. Career Boulton made his televised debut in the PDC UK Open in 2005 startin ...

. The following year, unseeded, Atkins won his first round match 3–2 against

Joey ten Berge Joey ten Berge (born 18 October 1985) is a Dutch former darts player. Career BDO Ten Berge won the 2001 WDF Europe Youth Cup beating Sweden's Markus Korhonen in the final. Six years later, he captured his first professional title by capturing ...

before losing to Gary Robson 4–1. Seeded number 10 for the 2010 BDO World Darts Championship, Atkins suffered another first round exit after he was defeated by Lakeside debutant Paul Carter 3–1. In 2011, Atkins was drawn against third seed and eventual runner-up

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

in the first round, and lost 3–2 having missed two match darts in the fourth set. Atkins finally progressed past the second-round stage of the World Championship when, in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, he defeated 7th seed John Walton and 10th seed

Willy van de Wiel Willy van de Wiel (born 15 April 1982) is a Dutch former professional darts player. BDO career Van de Wiel won the 2008 Norway Open, beating Dave Chisnall, Stephen Bunting and John Henderson, before beating Paul Hanvidge in the final. He also ...

en route to a quarter-final match against

Ted Hankey Edward Hankey (born 20 February 1968) is an English former professional darts player and convicted sex offender. Nicknamed "The Count", he won the BDO World Darts Championship in 2000, was runner-up in 2001, and won the title for a second time ...

where he lost 5–1. In 2012, Atkins won the biggest title of his career so far by winning the

BDO British Open The British Open is one of the longest-running darts events, having started just a few months after the first ever Winmau World Masters. The tournament used to be televised by the BBC from its inception, but it ceased to cover the event after 1983 ...

, beating

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchp ...

in the final. However, his season ended in disappointment when he lost in the first round of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

to Jason Cullen. Atkins was unseeded for the 2014 World Championship and faced eighth seed

Jeffrey de Graaf Jeffrey de Graaf (born 21 November 1990) is a Dutch darts player. He has played in six World Championships (four BDO and two PDC) but has lost in the first round each time. He moved from the BDO to the PDC in 2016. Career BDO In 2012, De Graaf ...

in the first round. Despite competing with an elbow injury sustained on New Year's Day, and despite de Graaf throwing for two of the sets, Atkins won the match 3–0, finishing with a 135 checkout on the bullseye. However, Atkins had to withdraw during his second round match against

Rick Hofstra Rick Hofstra (born 21 April 1977) is a former Dutch professional darts player. Career Hofstra reached the quarter finals of the 2001 Belgium Open and the 2002 Swiss Open before making his major debut in the 2003 International Darts League, wh ...

while trailing 2–0 in sets.

PDC

Announced on 9 December 2017, he will be joining the rival organisation 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 ...

for the first time in his career. He has played most of the BDO tour but has decided to give the PDC tour a go for the first time after playing his whole career in the BDO.

BDO

As of May 2018, it would seem he returned to the BDO circuit due to an unsuccessful run on the PDC circuit.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2005: 1st round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3) * 2006: 2nd round (lost to

3–4) * 2007: 2nd round (lost to Phil Nixon 1–4) * 2008: 1st round (lost to

2–3) * 2009: 2nd round (lost to Gary Robson 1–4) * 2010: 1st round (lost to Paul Carter 1–3) * 2011: 1st round (lost to

2–3) * 2012: Quarter-final (lost to

1–5) * 2013: 1st round (lost to Jason Cullen 1–3) * 2014: 2nd round (withdrew while trailing

0–2) * 2016: 2nd round (lost to

Richard Veenstra Richard Veenstra (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. He is a Dutch Open champion, BDO World Trophy and Finder Darts Masters finalist. Multiple medalist of WDF World ...

0–4) * 2017: 1st round (lost to Jamie Hughes 1–3)

Performance timeline

References

External links

Official websiteProfile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Martin English darts players 1965 births Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation associate players