Thursday 21st December 2006

LATVIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2006

The Latvian Nation Championships were held last weekend, we have received the following results from the championships.

Singles:

	1. Juris Aleksans 2. Arnis Vents 3. Zanis Buklovskis 3. Guntars Grebskis 5. Peteris Alberlins 5. Ilmars Dunins 5. Oskars Kovalevskis 5. Aigars Strelis	1 2 3 3 5 5 5 5	Inita Bite Vita Grebska Ieva Brikmane-Buklovska Zeltite Putnina Areta Kovalevska Ligita Vilks Vita Aleksane Elena Kapostina

Wednesday 20th December 2006

MEDITERRANEAN CUP 2007

The 2007 Mediterranean Cup will be held at the Eritrea Hotel on Evia Island, Greece on 31st May - 2rd June. The Mediterranean Cup is an International event in which the national teams from Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, and Malta take part. The 2nd Greek Open will be played on Sunday 3rd June.

Thursday 14th December 2006

NORTHERN IRELAND SIX NATIONS CUP TEAM

The Northern Ireland team for the 2007 Six Nations Cup is as follows:

John Elder (Capt) Brian Cathcart , Daniel McDonald, Roy Montgomery, Michael Blair,  and Ricky Dunlop.

The Team Manager Joe Donnelly.

Wednesday 13th December 2006

19TH BULLS GERMAN OPEN 2007

Details for the 2007 German open have now been released. the official invitation and entry forms can be viewed or downloaded from the WDF Tournament Calendar.

Monday 11th December 2006

‘SHOWBIZ DARTS’ FROM LAKESIDE

SHOWBIZ DARTS is back on Challenge every weekday evening at 10PM from now until the end of December.    Originally shown in October, the successful darts/entertainment series features two teams mentored by Andy Fordham and Bobby George  and staged at ‘the home of world darts’ Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green.   The fifteen one-hour shows enjoyed excellent

viewing  figures when first shown, and there are plans for a brand new series in 2007..

Eight celebrities in two teams of four, captained by Bobby and Andy, will compete every night on Challenge from the famous stage that will host the 2007 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships from January 6^th to 14th.

Martin Fitzmaurice is the stage host, and top referee George Noble helps create the authentic tournament atmosphere of Lakeside.

The series is hosted by Sarah Cawood, and the teams, complete with their personally chosen nicknames, are as follows: 

• BOBBY’S TEAM  : James ’The Galloping Major’  Hewitt, Holly ‘Hard To Beat’  Willoughby, Phil ‘The Cat’ Tufnell and Michael ‘Spirit’  Le Vell

• ANDY’S TEAM : Johnny ‘The Saint’  Vegas, Keith ‘Cheggers’  Chegwin, Vicki ‘The Vixen’  Butler Henderson and Rowland ‘Right Here’  Rivron

Top darts competition, excitement, drama and the unique Lakeside atmosphere all combine to make Showbiz Darts a truly entertaining series. 

SCOTLAND ANNOUNCE THEIR SIX NATIONS CUP 2007 SQUAD

The Scottish Darts Association have announced their squad which will compete in the 2007 Six Nations Cup which will be held in the Netherlands on 24 - 25th February. The squad is:

Mike Veitch (Lothian)(Capt) - Mark Barilli ( Renfrew) - Danny Cunningham (Fife) - George Dalglish (Lothian)

Paul Hanvidge (Renfrew) and Paul McGimpsey (Cumbria).

Team Manager is John Cook.

QUEBEC OPEN 2007   The Quebec Open is scheduled for 19 - 21 January 2007. We have now received details for this WDF ranked event, and they are available for viewing or download in the WDF Tournament Calendar.

Sunday 10th December 2006

THE LORNA CROFT FRIENDSHIP CUP 2006

The Dutch women won the inaugural  Lorna Croft Friendship Cup. The singles title went to Germany’s Heike Ernst and this victory secured her a place at the Winmau World Masters in 2007. The initiative for this event came from the Dutch and German Darts Organisation Board members.  Lindsey Croft, the eldest granddaughter of Olly and Lorna was present and presented the trophies. She conveyed sincere thanks from Olly Croft and the entire croft family for the way that the Netherlands and Germany had decided to commemorate Lorna Croft’s name..

Netherland:

Team Blue:

Mieke de Boer, Thea Kaaijk, Roelie Bakker, Karin ten Kate

TeamWhite:

Floor van Zanten, Rilana Erades, Priscilla Groeneweg, Karin Krappen

Germany:

Team Black:

Heike Ernst, Bianka Strauch, Sabine Spörle, Trixi Kröckl

Team Yellow:

Michelle Sossong, Monique Lessmeister, Benita Göbel, Kerstin Lederbogen

After the first round the score was evenly balanced between the two Nations. The Dutch White team won against Germany’s Yellow team (13-4), were the German Black team took the victory over the Dutch Blue team (11-6).

Both Karin Krappen for Netherlands White and Bianca Strauch for Germany Black, went through the day unbeaten.

In the pairs event each Pair played all Pairs from the other country. It was a very close encounter with Germany winning by 41 legs to 39. This made the total leg difference 79 –  69 in favour of the Netherlands.

Pairs results (Dutch pairs first)

On Sunday, the Singles were played with a Winmau World Masters place available for the winner.

On the basis of the performances on the Saturday, the groups were seeded with two Dutch and two German players in each group. Two players from each group would qualify for the quarter-final stage.

Karin Krappen, did not have the best of birthdays, losing two of her group matches against Mieke de Boer and Heike Ernst which resulted in elimination. After the group matches four German and four Dutch girls had qualified for the last eight. Amongst them, were the two youngest participants from the Netherlands Thea Kaaijk (14) and Priscilla Groeneweg (16).

The quarter-finals results meant that no matter who won the semi-finals it would be a Netherlands v Germany final.

Experienced Heike Ernst left absolutely no doubt who is the best German ladies player at the moment. She beat Bianka Strauch in a very good match 4-1. In the other semi-final Rilana Erades who came back from trailing 1-3 to win the match. Heike Ernst won a close fought final by 4 legs to 3.

The trophies were presented by Lyndsay Croft who is Olly's youngest granddauter. Germany announced that they will host the LCFC next year.

Knock-out Singles:

Quarter-Finals

Rilana Erades – Monique Lessmeister  3 – 1

Roelie Bakker – Priscilla Groeneweg  3 – 0

Heike Ernst – Michelle Sossong  3 – 0

Bianka Strauch – Thea Kaaijk  3 – 0

Semi-Finals:

Rilana Erades – Roelie Bakker  4 – 3

Heike Ernst – Bianka Strauch  4 – 1

Final:

Heike Ernst – Rilana Erades  4 – 3

Final overall result:

Nederland  115 pt

Germany   109 pt

Friday 8th December 2006

THE LORNA CROFT FRIENDSHIP CUP

The first ever Lorna Croft Friendship Cup between Dutch and German women darts players, will be played in de Koningshof, Veldhoven over the weekend of December 9^th and 10^th..

The initiative for this ladies only event came from the board members of the Dutch Darts Association and the Deutsche Darts Verband, and has been named in memory of  the late Lorna Croft.

Lorna was the wife of Olly Croft, OBE, founder of the British Darts Organisation, and was always by his side and well known and respected for her warm personality and devotion to darts.

Over two days, eight Dutch and eight German women will compete. Team games and pairs will be played on Saturday,  and on Sunday the singles tournament will be played. The winner of the main Singles event will be invited to the 2007 Winmau World Masters.

The teams:

Netherlands:

Mieke de Boer - Thea Kaaijk - Priscilla Groeneweg - Karin Krappen 

Floor van Zanten - Rilana Erades - Roelie Bakker - Karin ten Kate

Germany:

Heike Ernst - Bianka Strauch - Sabine Spörle - Trixi Kröckel

Michelle Sossong - Monique Lessmeister - Benita Göbel - Kerstin Lederbogen

Olly Croft was very moved by the decision to name this event after Lorna and wanted to be present to see this inaugural tournament. Unfortunately his busy schedule made this impossible.

However, he and the Croft family will be represented  by his youngest grandaughter  Lyndsay, who will proudly present the very first Lorna Croft Friendship Cup on Sunday.

Thursday 7th December 2006

THE WORLD’S MEDIA HEAD FOR THE LAKESIDE

All roads will once again lead to Lakeside when the world’s media descends on ‘the home of world darts’ from January 6^th to 14^th, 2007.

Two fully equipped press offices will look after the needs of journalists, photographers and broadcasters, all of whom are attracted not only by the drama, excitement and world-class standards of the darts, but also to experience the history surrounding the World Pro (celebrating its 30th year of  BDO/BBC ‘partnership’ on terrestrial TV) and the unique Lakeside atmosphere.

UK national newspapers will be represented, as well as regional press and radio.  There is also a huge Dutch media presence of newspapers, magazines and photographers.

As always, BBC Radio 5 Live will be broadcasting from the main press office daily, and BBC and Dutch TV coverage will include more live darts than ever before in the most comprehensive 9-day TV package from Lakeside.

There will be live darts every day, plus recorded highlight programmes and darts features every afternoon and evening.  BBCi will once again provide digital viewers with coverage of every dart thrown live, and Eurosport (available in 104 million outlets worldwide) will be back for the second successive year.

“Last year we had calls from darts fans telling us they were watching the World Pro on Eurosport in such faraway places as Thailand and India”, says BDO PR Robert Holmes.  “That’s got to be great for our sport and its players. If you add the 70 plus countries who receive coverage from BBC Worldwide you are probably looking at a global audience of some 100 million – which represents the biggest TV audience for darts anywhere in the world”.

Into the Lakeside media mix for 2007 comes the prestigious Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) who are sending their senior reporter Don Murray to film an extensive news feature on BDO darts and Lakeside for its ‘The National’ late evening programme, which is the equivalent of BBC-2’s prestigious ‘Newsnight’.

Channel 4’s ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ crew will also be back following the huge success of their first visit to Lakeside in 2006.  They will be filming darts players, fans and officials talking about the latest series for the 6 nights a week ‘Celebrity Big Brother’s Big Mouth’ programme.

Local TV crews from BBC South and Meridian will also be filming at Lakeside, together with a crew from Omroep Brabant (Dutch local TV and radio) who will be making film features and following the progress of Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen and Mario Robbe in particular.

“This is just a flavour of the ongoing media interest in BDO darts and the Lakeside World Pro”, adds Robert Holmes. “It just gets bigger and bigger every year and, at this rate we might have to open a third press office to accommodate them all!”

The Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships (Men and Women) are staged and promoted by the British Darts Organisation, and the Lakeside Complex will be the main title sponsor for the fourth consecutive year.  They will be played from Saturday, January 6^th to Sunday, January 14^th, 2007 and televised by BBC TV Sport, SBS-6 in The Netherlands and Eurosport.

IMPRESSIVE NORWEGIAN PENTATHLON WIN FOR ROBERT WAGNER

Robert Wagner  scored an impressive 418 points when winning the Norwegian Pentathlon last weekend, he was more than 100 points clear of his nearest rival. The women' event was played as a "half Pentathlon, and was won by Hege Løkken.

Wednesday 6th December 2007

CYPRUS INTERNATIONAL OPEN 2007

The Cyprus International Open 2007 will be played in the Lefkotheo Athletics Centre, Ergomi, in Nicosia on 3 - 4 March. Details are now available for viewing or download in the WDF Tournament Calendar.

Tuesday 5th December 2006

EXCITING NEW LOOK FOR LAKESIDE 2007

The 2007 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of a unique broadcasting partnership between BBC TV and the BDO with a brand new and exciting stage set, together with a new walk-on for the players. To confirm the BDO/BBC commitment to these great Championships, the new set will be eye-catching, colourful

 and exciting to perfectly reflect the darts and the performances of the players.

“The World Pro has all the history in World Darts and we are proud and delighted that after 30 years, it remains the one that every darts player wants to win”, says Olly Croft. 

“The new set is a collaboration between the BBC, BDO and Lakeside and will enhance the colour and spectacle of the BBC’s first major sporting event of the New Year  – while at the same time confirming our commitment to the future of the most prestigious Championships in World Darts”.

To complement the new look set, the BDO have also pioneered the use of an on-stage plasma-screen for the benefit of players.  The stage is now the domain of the players, and there will be no markers – just an on-stage referee/caller.

There will be back-ups in place for the plasma screen and the BDO will be introducing yet another new concept for the 2007 World Pro  – a second referee who will observe all games from an off-stage position and be available as a back-up to the on stage referee/caller should any disputes arise and/or decisions need to be made.

And to complete a whole series of  innovative changes, there will be a new and longer player walk-on for the 2007 World Pro. This will serve to enhance the unique Lakeside atmosphere and add to the colour, spectacle and excitement of the Championships for the players and spectators alike.

“It will add to the overall excitement for the packed Lakeside audiences and look absolutely stunning on TV”, adds Olly Croft. “The best just keeps getting better and better!” 

Since 1978 the World Pro has been seen every year on BBC terrestrial television, and to confirm its unrivalled and ongoing popularity, it attracted record-breaking combined viewing figures of 10 million in the UK and Holland in 2006. In addition it was shown in 71 countries via Eurosport and  BBC Worldwide to create the biggest audience for darts anywhere in the world.

The Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships will be staged by the British Darts Organisation at ‘the home of world darts’ from Saturday, January 6^th to Sunday, January 14^th.

Saturday 2nd December 2006

GERMAN GOLD CUP 27 - 28 JANUARY 2007

Online details are now available for the 2007 German Gold Cup. You can download the information and the entry form from the WDF Tournament calendar or by clicking.....here

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