2002 BDO World Darts Championship - Championship Review

Championship Review

Day One – Saturday 5 January

The defending champion, John Walton begun his defence with a 3–0 win over 4-time semi-finalist, Andy "Viking" Fordham. The match that had been expected to be close was a surprisingly one sided encounter, with Fordham winning 1 leg. Colin Monk would face Walton in the last 16, after a nervy 3–2 win over greenkeeper Tony O'Shea. In the session's other game, Stefan Nagy of Sweden won through, a 3–0 win over Scot, Gary Anderson.

The evening session saw Wayne Mardle, seeded 8 and 2001 semi-finalist win 3–0 against Davy Richardson, Bobby George would join Richardson in the queue to checkout at the hotel, he was beaten 3–1 by Raymond van Barneveld. George, the oldest player to compete in the event, took the third set and was on for a 9-dart leg in the 4th, however he hit single 5 going for the 7th treble 20. Also through was Belgium's Erik Clarys, a 3–1 winner over Andre Welgee of Germany. Day 1 over and all 8 seeds remained in the first round draw.

Day Two – Sunday 6 January

4th seed Mervyn King would go through a 3–1 winner over Australian Russell Stewart, a man who had been one of Phil Taylor's victims en route to "The Power"'s first world title. However Stewart took the second set and was 2–0 up in the third before losing it 3–2. King, seeded to make the semi-final would next meet Mensur Suljovic (a Bosnian born Austrian) after he took out Vincent Van der Voort 3–2 in the first round. Steve Coote was also going through, a 3–1 winner over 18 year old Markus Kohornen from Sweden.

In the evening session, 7th seed and 2000 World Champion Ted "The Count" Hankey was fortunate to squeeze home against Finland's Jarrko Komula. Komula, runner-up in the World Masters would only lose 3–2 as the 2001 runner-up's bid to make his 3rd successive final began with a victory. Hankey's opponent would be Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones who beat Tony Eccles 3–2. 2nd seed Martin Adams would win 3–0 against Peter Johnstone of Scotland, a comfortable win for the Englishman involved in many collapses in the past.

Day Three – Monday 7 January

The first round would be completed today. In the opening match, 3rd seed Marko Pusa defeated Matt Clark 3–1. The Finn beaten 5–0 in the quarter-finals a year ago (He lost the first 14 legs before taking 2 as John Walton closed the game out) would now face Hemophiliac Tony David, after the Australian won 3–1 against Richie Davies. Dutchman, Co Stompe would eliminate Mike Veitch from Scotland 3–0 and would meet 6th seeded Scot, Bob Taylor who knocked out John Ferrell by the same scoreline.

Day Four – Tuesday 8 January

The first major shock of the tournament came on the opening day of the second round. World Champion and top seed John "Boy" Walton put out 3–2 by Colin Monk, meaning that there would be a new champion this year. Despite strolling to a 1–0 lead and levelling the match at 2–2, Walton never really looked a winner and Monk went through. Monk will now face Wayne Mardle on Thursday after knocking out Stefan Nagy 3–1. Nagy took the first set but then the Dagenham thrower took the next 3 sets to advance.

Raymond van Barneveld put in a very impressive display in disposing of Erik Clarys in 21 minutes. This was despite Clarys winning 2 legs. Barneveld averaged 101.34, up on his 100.83 in the first round. He would now meet Mervyn King after the 4th seed put out Mensur Suljovic by 3 sets to one.

Day Five – Wednesday 9 January

2 seeds were eliminated today. Ted Hankey, one of the favourites after Walton's exit, was beaten 3–2 by Wayne Jones. Hankey took the opening 6 legs to go 2–0 up, before Jones took the 3rd, and came from 2–1 down in the 4th. The fifth saw Hankey go 1–0 up before Jones turned the tide to take the match by 3 legs to 1 and 3 sets to 2. He would now face 2nd seed Martin Adams, who knocked out Steve Coote 3–1. Bob Taylor would make his quarter-final debut on Thursday, after putting out Co Stompe 3–1. Now the 6th seed would now face Tony David after the Australian put 3rd seed Marko Pusa out of the tournament.

Day Six – Thursday 10 January

The quarter-finals began today, Matches now played as the best of 9 sets, the first man to 5 would be in the semi-finals.

4th seed Mervyn King continued his run and knocked out Raymond van Barneveld 5–3. The match which saw King lead 3–1 at the interval, and 4–1 before a revival from Barney, had 27 180's and it took a 131 checkout from King to go through to the Semi-Finals.

Meeting him would be Colin Monk, the Unseeded Englishman continued his run in the event and knocked out Wayne Mardle 5–4 in a very tight match.

Day Seven – Friday 11 January

With the quarter-finals completed today, Martin Adams went into the Semi-Finals for the first time in 7 years after sweeping aside one of the surprises in the tournament Wayne Jones by a crushing 5–1 margin. A scoreline that didn't fully tell the story of the match. He would meet Tony David who defeated Bob Taylor in a tight match, 5 sets to four.

Day Eight – Saturday 12 January

The Semi-Finals were played in the traditional afternoon slot, in the first Semi-Final, Colin Monk's run ended after Mervyn King swept to victory by a 5–1 scoreline. Then the second semi was tight, the match entering the tiebreak before David went through by 4–2 in the 9th set.

Day Nine – Sunday 13 January

The Final, for the first time for both players had been achieved. This Ashes style contest would be the Best of 11 sets. David would take an early 5–1 lead before being pegged to 5–4. The 10th set would be 3–1 to David and for the first time Australia had a world darts champion.

Running concurrently with the event was the Women's World Championships. Trina Gulliver defended her title with a 2–1 win over Francisca Hoenselaar of the Netherlands.