BDO Career
Thornton returned to playing darts in 2002, having given up the game to raise his many children. He qualified for the BDO World Championship for the first time in 2005. He beat Martin Atkins and Tony West before losing to Darryl Fitton in the quarter finals. He then failed to qualify for the 2006 and 2007 events.
His first title came in the Central Scotland Open in April 2007, beating Mike Veitch in the final. He failed to make it through the qualifying event for 2008 BDO World Championship, but managed to make it to the televised stages of the 2007 Winmau World Masters in the same weekend. He then beat Co Stompé, BDO world champion Martin Adams, and Atkins to reach the final. He managed to avenge his defeat by Fitton at the 2005 Lakeside World Championship to claim his first major title by 7 sets to 5 (having trailed 5-2) and win the £25,000 first prize and also a place in the 2008 World Championship - despite having lost earlier in the qualifiers.
His appearance at the 2008 BDO World Championship was only his second visit to Lakeside, and he matched his previous appearance by reaching the quarter-finals. Having beaten John Walton and Tony O'Shea, he lost to defending champion Adams - who gained revenge for his loss at the World Masters.
Thornton's good form continued into 2008 when he won the Dutch Open in February and reached the last eight of the Scottish Open a week later to achieve a career high of fourth in the WDF world rankings and was top of the BDO rankings.
Read more about this topic: Robert Thornton (darts Player)
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