World Darts 2014

[Panda]

The PDC World Championship starts today and finishes on New Year's Day, with Phil Taylor going for a 17th world title, with his main rivals set to be Michael van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis.

The draw:

Preliminary round:
Rob Szabo v Ian Moss
Colin McGarry v Per Laursen
Julio Barbero v Andree Welge
Dennis Linskjold v Colin Osborne
Devon Petersen v Mohd Latif Sapup
Zoran Lerchbacher v Ben Ward
Morihiro Hashimoto v Paul Lim
Gino Vos v Royden Lam

Round 1
Phil Taylor v Szabo/Moss
Michael Smith v Hashimoto/Lim
Peter Wright v Joe Cullen
Terry Jenkins v McGarry/Laursen
Wes Newton v Vos/Lam
John Part v Mareno Michels
Robert Thornton v Max Hopp
Colin Lloyd v Beau Anderson
Andy Hamilton v Barbero/Welge
Richie Burnett v Dean Winstanley
Kim Huybrechts v Ronny Huybrechts
Ian White v Kyle Anderson
Simon Whitlock v Ross Smith
Mark Walsh v Jarkko Komula
Kevin Painter v Tomas Seyler
Paul Nicholson v Stuart Kellett
Michael van Gerwen v Lerchbacher/Ward
Wayne Jones v Kevin McDine
Brendan Dolan v Lindskjold/Osborne
Gary Anderson v Mark Dudbridge
Dave Chisnall v John Henderson
Mark Webster v Mensur Suljovic
Raymond van Barneveld v Jamie Lewis
Jamie Caven v Jelle Klaasen
James Wade v Darren Webster
Andy Smith v Steve Brown
Justin Pipe v Arron Monk
Steve Beaton v Petersen/Sapup
Adrian Lewis v Dennis Smith
Vincent van der Voort v Matt Clark
Mervyn King v Darin Young
Ronnie Baxter v Ricky Evans

Preliminary round: best of 7 legs
Round 1: best of 5 sets
Round 2: best of 7 sets
Round 3: best of 7 sets
Quarter-finals: best of 9 sets
Semi-finals: best of 11 sets
Final: best of 13 sets

Previous PDC finals:
1994: Dennis Priestley 6-1 Phil Taylor
1995: Phil Taylor 6-2 Rod Harrington
1996: Phil Taylor 6-4 Dennis Priestley
1997: Phil Taylor 6-3 Dennis Priestley
1998: Phil Taylor 6-0 Dennis Priestley
1999: Phil Taylor 6-2 Peter Manley
2000: Phil Taylor 7-3 Dennis Priestley
2001: Phil Taylor 7-0 John Part
2002: Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley
2003: John Part 7-6 Phil Taylor
2004: Phil Taylor 7-6 Kevin Painter
2005: Phil Taylor 7-4 Mark Dudbridge
2006: Phil Taylor 7-0 Peter Manley
2007: Raymond van Barneveld 7-6 Phil Taylor
2008: John Part 7-2 Kirk Shepherd
2009: Phil Taylor 7-1 Raymond van Barneveld
2010: Phil Taylor 7-3 Simon Whitlock
2011: Adrian Lewis 7-5 Gary Anderson
2012: Adrian Lewis 7-3 Andy Hamilton
2013: Phil Taylor 7-4 Michael van Gerwen


The BDO World Championship begins on January 4th, with an expanded format for both the men's and women's tournaments. The men's tournament has expanded to 40 players and will feature a 16-man preliminary round including international qualifiers and former champion wild cards like Martin Adams and Christian Kist. The women's tournament has expanded to 16 players and the final will now be the best of 5 sets.

[Panda]

Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson both hit 9-darters on day 2 and both go on to lose!

[-Big Dan-]

Blimey!  Trust it to happen while I'm out doing my bit for charity.

[-Big Dan-]

Tonight's order of play:

Dave Chisnall v John Henderson
Dennis Lindskjold v Colin Osborne (prelim.)
Raymond van Barnveld v Jamie Lewis
Brendan Dolan v Lindskjold/Osborne
Jamie Caven v Jelle Klassen

John Henderson is 2-0 up in sets against Chisnall, and looking well in control.

[Panda]

Chisnall's in big trouble. I don't think he can count to 3...

[-Big Dan-]

Chisnall's won the last 4 legs, and is now looking well and truly in the ascendancy.

[-Big Dan-]

Well, the last set went to a tie-break but John Henderson edges it winning 5-3, in something of an upset!

[Panda]

Definitely an upset. Henderson's done nothing since leaving the BDO.

[-Big Dan-]

Complete results from tonight:

Dave Chisnall 2-3 John Henderson

Dennis Lindskjold 1-4 Colin Osborne (prelim)

Raymond van Barneveld 3-0 Jamie Lewis

Brendan Dolan 3-0 Colin Osborne

Jamie Caven 3-1 Jelle Klassen

[Panda]

Klaasen going out is a bit of a shock. Caven's another one who's done very little in recent years.

[-Big Dan-]

Klassen for me though has not lived up to his potential since winning the BDO World Title.

[Panda]

Very much so - hasn't looked like getting close to the PDC title but had at least established himself as a consistent top 32 player...

[Panda]

And being a top 32 player in the PDC is probably equivalent to being top 8 in the BDO, maybe even top 4.

[-Big Dan-]

Phil Taylor is out!!! 

[-Big Dan-]

The BDO World Championship will be shown in its entirety on the BBC, since BT Sport now own ESPN, who had recently been sharing coverage of the tournament with the BBC. That tournament gets underway on the 4th of January.

[Panda]

Last 16 line-up:
Michael Smith v Peter Wright
Wes Newton v Robert Thornton
Richie Burnett v Ian White
Simon Whitlock v Kevin Painter
Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
Mark Webster v Raymond van Barneveld
James Wade v Devon Petersen
Adrian Lewis v Mervyn King

Top half of the draw is wide open, while the bottom half has had few shocks. Justin Pipe getting knocked out significantly reduces the risk of the tournament going into an extra week.

[-Big Dan-]

Michael Smith had better kick on now, after knocking out Phil Taylor in such brilliant fashion.

[Panda]

Semi-finals tonight...

Peter Wright v Simon Whitlock
Michael van Gerwen v Adrian Lewis


Odds to win the title:
7/5 van Gerwen
8/5 Lewis
13/2 Whitlock
8/1 Wright

[Panda]

Wright 6-2 Whitlock
van Gerwen 6-0 Lewis

Guaranteed a new champion. The winner will be only the sixth player to win the PDC title in its 20-year history.

[Panda]

For those who don't have Sky, the final is currently live on 5Live - the first time they've ever broadcast darts live. Commentary from John Rawling and Paul Nicholson, who sounds spookily like a young Sid Waddell.