Battle At The Lake
Who Or What Will Cause A Splash At Lakeside
January 4th sees the start
of the 37th BDO World
Championships at the Lakeside
Country Club, with the BBC
reclaiming
the
exclusive
television rights meaning
that fans will see more of the
darts than in previous years.
Indeed at the time of writing
it is expected that every dart
of both the mens and ladies
competitions will be available
to view live (at least behind
the red button).
Fans will also get to see more
of the BDO stars in action at
the tournament than ever
before, with 40 men and 16
ladies having qualified for the
expanded fields. But just what
else can you expect from the
BDO’s flagship tournament.
Crowds
The traditional crowd at Lakeside
is a lot more reserved than their
counterparts from the Ally Pally
and other PDC events. You will
not see anything like the level of
fancy dress, there will not be the
singing, cheering and shouting,
and you will see a lot less placards
in the audience.
This is not to say that the Lakeside
crowd hasn’t got a lot to offer. I
speak from personal experience
when I say that Lakeside has a
great atmosphere and the fans are
certainly highly knowledgable.
They do play their part in the
matches and they do support their
favourite players.
Format
By Mike Glover
For the first time at Lakeside their
will be preliminary round matches
this year in the mens competition,
with 16 players looking to take
their place in the first round
proper.
From then on in it is a straight
knockout, with the remaining 32
men playing down to a winner
on 13th January. The ladies
tournament is a straight knockout,
with the sixteen playing down to a
winner to be crowned on Saturday
12th December.
Youth
Fallon Sherrock of England will
become the youngest player
to compete in the ladies World
Championships at 19 and the
sixth seed has a genuine shot at
the title. Should she achieve the
feat she would become the sports
youngest ever World Champion of
either gender.
The iconic
Lakeside venue
Experience
Martin Adams will be playing in his
21st Lakeside World Championship
this year, more than any other
player in the history of the sport.
His experience has told in the past,
with the former England captain
claiming the biggest crown in
BDO darts on no less than three
occasions, and with a resurgence
of form recently there is nothing
to say that he couldn’t win it back
this year.
Three time
champion Martin
Admas is hoping to
regain the title