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World Darts Federation
The World Darts Federation (WDF) is a sport governing body and (along with the PDC) a tournament organiser for the game of 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 .... It was formed in 1974 by representatives of the original fourteen founding members. Membership is open to the national organising body for darts in all nations. The WDF encourages the promotion of the sport of darts among and between those bodies, in an effort to gain international recognition for darts as a major sport. The WDF was a full member of Global Association of International Sports Federations, which was the governing body for international sports federations, until dissolution in 2023. The WDF stages a world championship (called the WDF World Cup), as well as continental championships such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the board, though unlike in sports such as archery, these areas are distributed all across the board and do not follow a principle of points increasing toward the board's Bullseye (target), bullseye. Though a number of similar games using various boards and rules exist, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules. Darts is both a professional throwing sport and a traditional pub game. Darts is commonly played in the British Isles, and recreationally enjoyed around the world. History In 1908, darts was declared to be a game of skill and was thus allowed to be played in pubs. This came about after the landlord of the Adelph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "the Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player and one of the most recognisable and successful players of the 1980s. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981, 1983–1985 and 1989-1990. Between 1980 and 1991, Bristow featured in ten BDO World Darts Championship finals, winning the title five times, in 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 and 1986. He was also a five-time World Masters Champion, a four-time World Cup singles champion and twice winner of the News of the World Darts Championship. He won 22 WDF and BDO Major titles, 65 individual career titles and 15 titles in team events, a total of 80 overall. He hosted the first two episodes of the darts-themed ITV game show ''Bullseye'' and regularly featured on the show. In late 1986, Bristow began experiencing symptoms of dartitis, which affected his career thereafter. In 1987, he began sponsoring and mentori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld (born 20 April 1967) is a Dutch professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he was ranked world number one from January 2008 to June 2008. Nicknamed "Barney", he is a five-time World Champion (four-time BDO and one-time PDC). He is also a two-time UK Open champion, and a former winner of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, the Grand Slam and the Premier League. He is also a two-time World Masters winner, and a former World Darts Trophy champion. He is a three-time winner of both the International Darts League, the Dutch Open, and the WDF World Cup singles event. Van Barneveld has won the PDC World Cup of Darts four times (once partnering Co Stompé and thrice partnering Michael van Gerwen) and the WDF World Cup Pairs once (partnering Vincent van der Voort). He also won the PDC World Pairs alongside Roland Scholten. His victory over Phil Taylor in the 2007 PDC World Championship final, added to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Hoenselaar
Francisca Hoenselaar (born 15 January 1965) is a Dutch former professional darts player. She was nicknamed "The Dutch Crown". A leading player in the women's game, Hoenselaar was the 2009 British Darts Organisation Women's World Darts Champion, having defeated Trina Gulliver in the final. Prior to this, she had been runner-up no fewer than five times – each time losing to Gulliver. Career A Netherlands native, Hoenselaar has won the Dutch title fifteen times. She first represented the Netherlands at the WDF World Cup in 1991. She won the Europe Cup women's singles in 1996, 2004 and 2010, and the World Cup women's singles in 2001. She aimed to retire from the Dutch team after the 2011 World Cup. Gulliver has long been her main rival, and got the better of her in five World Championship finals (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007). Indeed, Gulliver was unbeaten at the Women's World Championship until 2008. Hoenselaar entered the 2008 World Championship as the number one seed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 action. He currently resides in his hometown Blackpool. Baxter is widely regarded as one of the best players never to have won a major TV title. He is still active on the exhibition circuit. BDO Baxter played on the North American circuit during the 1980s and when he participated in the British Darts Organisation he had a consistent record for reaching the final stages of their Open events. As well as winning the Isle of Man Open three times, the Welsh Open twice, and the Syracuse Open, German Open, Denmark Open, Swiss Open, Finnish Open and the Welsh Classic once. He made his World Championship debut in 1991 and won his debut match against Bruno Raes, but lost in the second round to Jocky Wilson. Despite hitting the second highest average ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Cambridgeshire at county darts level and was the captain of England from 1993 to 2013, the longest any player has held that role. From his debut in 1994, Adams made a record 25 consecutive World Championship appearances, before failing to qualify for the first time in 2019. Adams was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April 2016, but by the end of the year he was given the all-clear. As well as playing, he also acted as a regular pundit and commentator for televised coverage of BDO events. Darts career 1994–2006 Adams was born in Sutton, Surrey and started his darts career in pubs. He still plays pub darts, currently playing for The Bell Tavern in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. After being made redundant by Lloyds Bank, he turned professional in 1992 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richie Burnett
Richard Mark Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He was formerly ranked BDO world number one. Burnett is a former BDO World Champion, having won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Championship. He is also a former Winmau World Masters champion, having won the 1994 event. He is known for his fiery personality, fighting with Adrian Lewis on stage during the 2012 Players Championship Finals. BDO career Burnett was born in Cwmparc, Treorchy, Rhondda Cynon Taff, and first came to prominence shortly after the split in the game, after the PDC and the BDO players went their separate ways. Burnett began to win many titles in the BDO in 1994, which included the Dutch Open, Welsh Open, British Matchplay and the Denmark Open. He then added one of the two BDO major titles, the Winmau World Masters beating Steve Beaton in the final. Althou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deta Hedman
Deta Hedman OBE (born 14 November 1959) is an English darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. She is a two-time World Masters and Finder Masters winner, and a three-time Dutch Open champion. She was also a three-time runner-up at the BDO World Championship, and was the runner-up at the 2016 BDO World Trophy. Biography Hedman was born in Jamaica in 1959. Her parents emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1960s, leaving Hedman and her siblings in the care of relatives in Jamaica. She spent her childhood with her aunt in Castleton in a shack without running water or electricity, going to school from Monday to Thursday and working on the farm on Fridays. Her parents eventually settled in Witham, Essex and over time, brought their children to the UK, with Hedman joining them in January 1973. She started playing darts with her older brother after babysitting for him and then at the local pub in Witham and further afield in Essex. When she was 25, she jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Beaton
Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. Nicknamed "the Bronzed Adonis", Beaton formerly formerly competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO), World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He is a former BDO World Champion, having won the 1996 World Championship. He was ranked BDO world number one in 1993 and 1994. Before switching to the PDC in 2001, Beaton won the 1993 World Masters, the 1995 and 1996 Dutch Opens, and also achieved success in the WDF Europe Cup and WDF World Cup. In the PDC, Beaton finished as the runner-up at the 2009 European Championship. He also won three PDC Pro Tour titles, including the 2013 German Darts Masters on the European Tour. Beaton retired from professional darts at the end of 2024, handing in his PDC Tour Card. He reached the semi-finals at the 2025 World Seniors Darts Championship. Background Beaton was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Laurens
Leo Laurens (born 30 July 1952) is a Belgian former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (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, 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 Rick Ney. He returned a year later, beating Canada's Bob Sinnaeve, before losing to Mike Gregory. His best performance came in 1997, where he reached the quarter-finals after beating Ritchie Davies and Richie Burnett. He lost to reigning champion Steve Beaton. 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 in 1988, 1993, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod Harrington
Rodney Harrington (born 30 December 1957) is an English former professional darts player and commentator. He used the nickname "The Prince of Style" for his matches, often wearing a suit and waistcoat for his games. Harrington enjoyed some major success during his professional career including the prestigious Winmau World Masters in 1991 and two successive World Matchplays in 1998 and 1999. At the PDC Awards Dinner held in January 2019, Harrington was inducted into the PDC Hall of Fame. Darts career BDO career He started his career before the game split into two separate organisations during the early 1990s. He accumulated many Open tournament titles including the Belgian Open (1991, 1992), Denmark Open (1991, 1992), French Open (1991, 1993) and the Swedish Open (1991). Harrington's 1991 Winmau World Masters victory over Phil Taylor remains one of Taylor's rare major final defeats – although Taylor was only a one-time World Champion at the time and had lost his world crown ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Taylor (darts Player)
Philip Douglas Taylor (born 13 August 1960) is an English former professional darts player. Nicknamed "the Power", he dominated darts across three decades and is widely considered the greatest darts player of all time, having won 214 professional tournaments, including a record 87 major titles and a record 16 World Professional Darts Championship, World Championships. In 2015, the BBC rated Taylor among the ten greatest British sportsmen of the last 35 years. Taylor took up darts seriously in his mid-twenties and was sponsored and mentored in his early professional career by five-time world champion Eric Bristow. An unseeded 125/1 outsider at the 1990 BDO World Darts Championship, he defeated Bristow 6–1 in the final to win his first world title at age 29. In 1992 BDO World Darts Championship, 1992, he won his second world title in dramatic fashion, defeating Mike Gregory (darts player), Mike Gregory 6–5 in a tiebreak leg after Gregory had missed six championship darts. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
