2003 BDO World Darts Championship

Seeds

Men

1. Tony David
2. Raymond van Barneveld
3. Mervyn King
4. Martin Adams
5. Andy Fordham
6. Tony O'Shea
7. Tony Eccles
8. John Walton

Prize money

The prize money was £199,000 for the men's event and £10,000 for the women's event.

Men's Champion: £50,000 Runner-Up: £25,000 Semi-Finalists (2): £11,000 Quarter-Finalists (4): £6,000 Last 16 (8): £4,250 Last 32 (16): £2,750

There was also a shared 9 Dart Checkout prize of £52,000, along with a High Checkout prize of £2,000 per event.

Seeds

Women

1. Trina Gulliver
2. Francis Hoenselaar
3. Anne Kirk
4. Mieke de Boer

Prize money

The prize money was £10,000 for the women's event.

Women's Champion: £4,000 Runner-Up: £2,000 Semi-Finalists (2): £1,000 Quarter-Finalists (4): £500

Tournament Review Day 1 - Saturday 4 January

Reigning champion and number 1 seed Tony David got his defence of the World Championship underway with a fairly comfortable win over Dane Brian Sorenson by 3-1. The reigning champion having swept to the top of the World rankings following victory in the World Darts Trophy looked comfortable in averaging 92.7 for the first round. He would meet Dutchman Vincent van der Voort who also won 3-1 against Finland's Jarrko Komula. Also safely through the first round were seeds John Walton (3-2 over Martin Phillips) and Andy Fordham (3-0 over Stefan Nagy). Also in the men's draw Richie Davies of Wales and Gary Anderson would go through, starting their quite remarkable runs this year.

In the ladies event top seed Francis Hoensellaar was taken to the final set against Karin Krappen before triumphing 2-1. She would meet 2001 World Master and number 4 seed Anne Kirk would comfortably advance with a 2-0 win over Gaynor Williams of Wales.

Day 2 - Sunday 5 January

Eight more first round matches over the two events as the Embassy World Championship began to gather its momentum. Bob Taylor, who made his championship debut in 1990 advanced to the second round following a comfortable 3-0 win over Peter Hunt of New Zealand, however with just 0.03 between their averages the match could easily have been a different story. Perennial bridesmaid at the World Championship Martin Adams would begin his quest for the title with a 3-1 one win over 2000 Semi-Finalist Co Stompe in a difficult match to call. Then a surprise followed in John Burtons 3-1 win over Darryl Fitton.

The two time champion and 2nd seed Raymond van Barneveld would be the next man for Burton after Barney eliminated Matt Clark from England by 3-1. Part of a five strong contingent of Orangemen and Orangewomen, the man tipped to be the main challenger to David averaged 85.07 in qualifying for the last 16. Austrian born Norwegian Robert Wagner would also go through 3-1 against Gary Robson. In the final game the first surprise, Tony Eccles seeded 7th crashing out 3-1 to Belgian Erik Clarys.

In the Ladies World Championship defending champion Trina Gulliver opened her defence up with a 2-1 win over Dawn Standley. The 2nd seed would meet the 3rd seed Mieke De Boer after the Dutchwoman won 2-0 against Linda Rogers Pickett.

Day 3 - Monday 6 January

Four matches today as the first round of the 2003 Embassy World Championship drew to its conclusion. 2002 World finalist Mervyn King opened his campaign to reach another final with a 3-1 win over Steve Coote. King, seeded 3rd after a decent year on the circuit however struggled to find his best form. He would meet Dennis Harbour who overcame 19-year-old James Wade by 3 sets to 2. Wade had several chances to progress but his finishing let him down, and let the 41-year-old qualifier in.

Number 6 seed Tony O'Shea overcame fellow Englishman and by far the strongest unseeded player in the championship Ted Hankey by 3-2, with both players averaging 88, it was tense all the way through before O'Shea progressed, he would be meeting Colin Monk after the 2002 World Semi-Finalist came through against Shaun Greatbatch by 3 sets to nil.

Day 4 - Tuesday 7 January

Matches in the second round started today in the 2003 World Championship, Matches still held over the best of 5 sets. After the relatively comfortable passage to this stage by the four seeds in the top half of the draw, the draw would open up after three seeds were eliminated. Scot Gary Anderson defeated number 5 seed Andy Fordham 3-1 in a high quality match, Anderson averaged 99.54 to Fordham's 97.62.

Anderson would meet Bob Taylor in Thursday's quarter-finals after the Scot sent out the 4th seed Martin Adams by 3 sets to 1. Again Adams' world title challenge fades before coming to fruition. - An impressive run from Richie Davies did for the number 8 seed and 2001 World Champion John Walton 3-0. Davies' reward would be a showdown with the reigning champion after David averaging 90.28 knocked out Vincent van der Voort by 3-1.

Day 5 - Wednesday 8 January

Four more matches as the second round concluded in Frimley Green. Mervyn King looked more comfortable in averaging 95.85 in knocking out Dennis Harbour 3-1. Then followed a classic encounter between O'Shea and Monk, Monk again managing to prevail against O'Shea in the odd set in five. This time the match would go to a tense and nerve-racking tie-break won by Monk.

Raymond van Barneveld stepped up his billing to be a serious challenger for the title after a 3-0 win over John Burton averaging 98.01. His opponent would be Eccles' conqueror Erik Clarys after the Belgian knocked out Robert Wagner by 3-0.

Day 6 - Thursday 9 January

The opening two quarter-finals and the women's Semi-Finals were held today, the quarter-finals had been extended to the best of 9 sets so first to five advances. The Ladies matches remained best of 3 sets.

Both quarter-finals this evening were routs, however a massive shock followed in the dethronement of the World Champion Tony David. Richie Davies in the form of his life took a 4-0 lead at the interval and any thoughts of a recovery were soon dispelled when Davies took the opening set after the break to win 5-0. - Gary Anderson would meet Davies after Anderson averaging 94.23 defeated Bob Taylor 5-0.

The shocks were not just confined to the men's World Championship. The top seed in the Ladies event Francis Hoensellaar crashed out 2-0 to Anne Kirk in the Semi-Finals; meeting Kirk would be Trina Gulliver, the 2nd seed eliminated Mieke De Boer 2-0 to reach her third final seeking her third title.

Day 7 - Friday 10 January

The quarter-finals were completed today, in the opening match second seed Raymond van Barneveld, big favourite to win the title after David's demise averaged 100.83 in a 5-1 drubbing of Erik Clarys. Barneveld's opponent would be Mervyn King after the 3rd seed comfortably despatched Colin Monk 5-0 in a performance similar to the 2002 Semi-Final.

Day 8 - Saturday 11 January

The Men's semi-finals and Ladies final would be held today still over their respective distances of 9 and 3 sets. In the opening last four clash Richie Davies would advance after a hardfought 5-2 win over Gary Anderson. Anderson took the opening set however three sets on the bounce from Davies put him 3-1 up at the interval. Anderson recovered, an 11 darter securing the fifth set and closing the gap to 3-2. The Scot soon led in the sixth set at 2-1 however Davies took the two sets to go 4-2 in front. The seventh set went to Davies 3-1 to clinch a 5-2 win and a place in the final.

The second Semi-final saw Barneveld take control from the start, swiftly taking a 2-0 lead. In the opening leg on the third set both players opened up with back-to-back 180's to leave a nine dart possibility. Both missed but Barneveld soon moved 3 sets up. King recovered in taking the last set and first set after the interval to close the gap to 3-2; With King level at 2-2 in the 6th set Barneveld played a tremendous leg to go 4-2 up and he sealed the win with a 3-0 set win in the 7th.

In the Ladies final, Trina Gulliver took her third world title with a 2-0 win over Anne Kirk, Kirk however had been 2-0 up in the second set so the match could have been a different story.

Day 9 - Sunday 12 January

Sunday's David v Goliath final saw Davies up against Barneveld over the Best of 11 sets.

Barneveld took the opening nervy set 3-1 following a 132 checkout, Having pinched the second set from 2-1 down and leading 2 sets to nil, Barneveld took the third and fourth sets in deciding legs to lead by a lop sided 4 sets to 0 even though Davies himself could have led 3-1.

Davies took the last set before the interval to close the gap to 4-1. After stealing the 6th set and strolling the seventh 3-0 Davies closed the gap to 4-3 and set up a nervous finale. At 2-2 in the 8th set however Barneveld slotted home a nervous double 18 to go 5-3 up in what was the crucial leg as Barneveld took the ninth set by 3-1 to secure a 6-3 victory to take his Third World title.