The 2014 BDO World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2014 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship) was the 37th World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 29th staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green.
Scott Waites was the defending men's champion, having won the title for the first time in the 2013 championship, but he was defeated 0–3 in the first round by eventual runner-up Alan Norris, who in turn lost to first seed Stephen Bunting in the final. The defending women's champion was Anastasia Dobromyslova, who won her third title in 2013. She lost to the eventual champion Lisa Ashton in the semi-finals.
This tournament saw the biggest field ever for a BDO World Championship. 56 players – 40 men, up from 32 in 2013, and 16 women – up from 8 in 2013 – competed for the world titles.
Players competed to reach the BBC televised finals, which ran from 4–12 January 2014.
Format and qualifiers Prize money The prize money was increased to £300,000 for the men's event and £29,000 for the women's event. There is a £52,000 bonus for hitting a Nine-dart finish in both versions of the tournament.
Position (num. of players)Prize moneyMen's Champion (1) £100,000Runner-Up (1) £35,000Semi-Finalist (2) £15,000Quarter-Finalist (4) £6,500Last 16 (8) £4,500Last 32 (16) £3,250Preliminary round losers (8) £2,000Highest Checkout (1) £5,000
Position (num. of players)Prize moneyWomen's Champion (1) £12,000Runner-Up (1) £5,000Semi-Finalist (2) £2,000Quarter-Finalist (4) £1,000Last 16 (8) £500
Men's The televised stages feature 40 players – an increase from 32 in previous years. The top 16 players in the BDO Invitational Rankings over the 2012/13 season are seeded for the tournament. Players who finish between 17th and 24th in the invitational rankings receive a bye into the last 32. The remaining 16 players enter in the preliminary rounds – this includes recent world champions not in the top 24, a qualifier from each of the eight WDF regions, four players who came through the pre-qualifying knockout tournament, and the Winmau World Masters winner (if not already qualified). Should there be fewer than 40 players qualified after the above process, the next unqualified player from the invitational rankings will be entered until the total reaches 40.
Top 16 Stephen Bunting James Wilson Tony O'Shea Robbie Green Darryl Fitton Jan Dekker Scott Waites Jeffrey de Graaf Remco van Eijden Glen Durrant Geert De Vos Wesley Harms Gary Robson Ross Montgomery Scott Mitchell Jim Williams17-28 in BDO RankingsHull qualifiers Paul Hogan Michael Meaney John Michael Dave Prins
WDF regional qualifiers Hiroaki Shimizu Harley Kemp Madars Razma David Cameron Karel Sedláček Mike Day Jim Widmayer Jeroen Geerdink
Women's The televised stages feature 16 players, an increase from 8 in previous years. The top 8 players in the WDF/BDO rankings over the 2012/13 season are seeded for the tournament.
Top 8 Deta Hedman Trina Gulliver Anastasia Dobromyslova Julie Gore Rachel Brooks Fallon Sherrock Aileen de Graaf Irina Armstrong
Other qualifiers Lorraine Farlam Rachna David Sharon Prins Lisa Ashton Karin Krappen
Hull qualifiers Ann-Louise Peters Rilana Erades Tamara Schuur
Draw Men Preliminary round Played from 4 to 6 January. All matches best of 5 sets. Av. Player Score Player Av. 77.07 David Cameron (Q) 1 – 3 Martin Adams 87.27 79.38 Madars Razma (Q) 3 – 2 John Michael (Q) 83.19 77.94 Harley Kemp (Q) 0 – 3 Michael Meaney (Q) 80.25 78.93 Hiroaki Shimizu (Q) 2 – 3 Christian Kist 86.96 77.88 Mike Day (Q) 3 – 0 Sam Head 73.68 73.95 Jim Widmayer (Q) 3 – 2 Garry Thompson 72.99 83.28 Karel Sedláček (Q) 1 – 3 Paul Hogan (Q) 83.76 77.58 Jeroen Geerdink (Q)0 – 3 Dave Prins (Q) 80.67
Last 32
1 Martin Atkins retired from the championship due to an elbow injury while trailing 2-0 in sets to Hofstra.
Women's Lisa Ashton won her first world championship title. In the final she trailed Deta Hedman 0–2 before turning the match.
Media coverage On 6 January 2013 it was announced the BBC had signed a three-year deal to show the World Championships from 2014 to 2016, on 4 December 2013 it was announced the BBC showed the tournament exclusively in Britain which they did from 1978 to 2011. This means most matches (bar the first ladies match) were shown live.
It was also announced the coverage would be presented by Colin Murray and Bobby George which it has been since 2010 despite Murray leaving Match of the Day 2 and BBC Radio 5 Live to move to Talksport. Rob Walker returned as reporter and Darts Extra presenter which is a role he has held since 2010. Commentary was by Tony Green, Vassos Alexander and Jim Proudfoot, along with John Rawling for the first time. Green commentated for the BBC for every year of the tournament from 1978 to 2010 and 2012–present missing the 2011 Championships due to illness, Alexander replaced Green in 2011 and continues in the role for 2014 and Proudfoot commentated on the 2013 championships replacing David Croft who moved to Sky to commentate on Formula One. BDO players Scott Mitchell, Tony O'Shea, Deta Hedman and Trina Gulliver also contributed to the commentary.
References
External links The official site of the Lakeside BDO World Professional Darts Championship