Draw taking place now live on ESPN.
Dave Beasant pulling the names out of the hat.
Absolute suspense.
As the Churchill dog would say, oh yes.
Ted Hankey is 15th seed.
Didn’t he beat Phil Taylor in the GSoD last year?
There’s a potential last 16 clash between The Count and Scotty Waites.
Wolfie opens up against Scott Mitchell.
Reigning Undisputed World Champion and England captain Martin Adams opens his defence of the tiitle against the dangerous Scott Mitchell.
Robbie Green against Daryl Fitton looks a mouthwatering clash.
The BDO Twitter account is a great facility for those of us who can’t watch the draw live. Up to the second, always.
Great win for Dean Winstanley in the Czech Open over the weekend by the way. A thrilling 6-5 win in the final for the Doncaster man against Alan Norris.
Well done Deano.
That was a cracking final all right. Norris has had a very good year. I think he won in France.
Didn’t realise this was still on. Will they be showing it on tv given the abysmal viewing figures of last year? They might put it on BBC Norfolk i suppose…
Live on BBC and ESPN pal.
The latter are the biggest sports broadcaster in the world.
C’mon Man!
Just over three weeks to go before the start of the World Darts Championship. Really looking forward to seeing what ESPN bring to the coverage of the premier tournament in professional darts and I hope Ray Stubbs is involved in their programming. To be honest, I haven’t enjoyed the BBC coverage as much since he defected to the global sport broadcasting giant and was replaced by Colin Murray. But it is very striking that both BBC and ESPN are covering this event - it just goes to show the popularity of real darts and emphasises the brilliant work being done by the BDO. As an aside, I see Finder have extended their sponsorship of the Zuiderduin Masters to 2014. Great times indeed for the BDO with two of the biggest networks in the world grappling with each other to secure rights to broadcast the championships and other key sponsors extending deals with the organisation.
I see David Croft has been snapped up by Sky Sports as their new Formula One commentator. A testament to what a brilliant and versatile broadcaster Crofty is. But relax folks he will be at Lakeside, he only took up the offer on the proviso that he could continue to commentate for the BBC/ESPN at BDO events.
And of course I look forward to hearing “The Voice of Darts”, Tony Green, back on commentary this year after his unfortunate absence last year due to ill health.
This is shaping up to be an epic tournament.
What chance has Jan Dekker got this year sid? Am Looking for an outside flutter.
Croft has been commentating on Formula 1 for 3 odd years now and his primary sport. The BDO thing is something he does just so he can have a hugh heinz.
I can’t claim to know too much about Jan’s first round opponent Christian Kist CM, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns out to be a surprise package. You just never know who will emerge as a star at Lakeside.
Jan’s playing good darts at the moment. I’d say there’s no better man on doubles at the moment in world darts. If he can get through the first round he’ll have a possible Round 2 tie against the classy and underrated Tony West. In the quarters it could be Dean Winstanley. That would be a belter of a tie.
Here’s the full draw by the way.
Ron Meulenkamp (NETH) V Gary Stone (SCOT)
Martin Adams (ENG) V Scott Mitchell (ENG)
Ross Montgomery (SCOT) V Fabian Roosenbrand (NETH)
Tony O’Shea (ENG) V Steve West (ENG)
Paul Jennings (ENG) V Garry Thompson (ENG)
Gary Robson (ENG) V Steve Douglas (ENG)
Wesley Harms (NETH) V Martin Phillips (WAL)
Robbie Green (ENG) V Darryl Fitton (ENG)
Ted Hankey (ENG) V Clive Barden (ENG)
Scott Waites (ENG) V Andy Boulton (ENG)
Willy van de Wiel (NETH) V Dave Prins (ENG)
John Walton (ENG) V Martin Atkins (ENG)
Tony West (ENG) V Geert de Vos (BELG)
Jan Dekker (NETH) V Christian Kist (NETH)
Benito Van De Pas (NETH) V Alan Norris (ENG)
Dean Winstanley (ENG) V Joey ten Berge (NETH)
1st Round Women’s Draw.
Lorraine Farlam (ENG) V Karen Lawman (ENG)
Deta Hedman (ENG) V Rhian Edwards (WAL)
Trina Gulliver (ENG) V Lisa Ashton (ENG)
Julie Gore (WAL) V Anastasia Dobromyslova (RUS)
The fact that Crofty has been commentating on darts for a lot longer than he has done on Formula One would very much indicate otherwise.
Same as most of the players so
Sid has been badly exposed here
I am getting ESPN for this. Scott Waites and Martin Adams head up the betting and both can be got at 4/1 if you shop around. Waites is a really talented player but hard to look beyond Adams I suppose. Great to see so many challengers though.