James Wade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Wade (born 6 April 1983 in Aldershot, Hampshire) is an English darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation. He is nicknamed The Gladiator.
He won the 2002 Swiss Open at the age of just 19 and went on to make his television debut at the 2003 Lakeside World Championship, but lost in the first round. He then appeared at the PDC's 2003 UK Open Championship at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.
At the 2004 Lakeside World Championship, he beat Shaun Greatbatch in the first round, before losing to Darryl Fitton in the second round. In May 2004, despite having qualified for the final stages of many BDO tournaments, Wade took the decision to forfeit his automatic place in the 2004 World Darts Trophy and 2005 BDO World Championship to join the Professional Darts Players Association (PDPA) and the PDC circuit.
He made his PDC World Championship début in 2005, losing in the first round to Mark Holden. He bounced back from this to win the Irish Masters in February and reach the last 16 of the UK Open later that year. He also qualified for the Las Vegas Desert Classic (beating the experienced Ronnie Baxter) and the World Grand Prix during the year as well. He also qualified for the 2006 World Championship, losing again in the first round, this time 3-2 to Wayne Jones, who would go on to reach the semi-finals, despite having won the first six legs for a two-set lead.
In the first half of 2006, Wade hit two nine-dart finishes during tournament play at the North-West UK Open Regional Final and at the PDPA Players Championship at Hayling Island.
He made his major breakthrough on the television during the 2006 Stan James World Matchplay in July in Blackpool. In the highly prestigious tournament, he sensationally reached the final, beating four experienced and respected darts players, in his first ever appearance at the Winter Gardens. He cruised past Dennis Ovens in the first round 10-1, having had darts to make it a 10-0 whitewash. In the second round he impressively beat then-World No. 7 and former World Championship finalist Kevin Painter 13-9, ending one leg with two double-20s to cause a minor controversy, and thrashed Chris Mason 16-4 in a real darts masterclass in his quarter-final. In the semi-finals he faced experienced Dutchman Roland Scholten and despite going 5-1 down at one point he recovered to claim a famous 19-17 victory in the tiebreaker, which requires the winner to win by two clear legs. In the final he played the great Phil Taylor on 29 July. Despite taking a 4-1 lead early on, he lost an entertaining final 18-11.
During his World Matchplay campaign, in particular his demolition of Mason, he showed huge promise, scoring big regularly and a fantastic checkout rate, including a few ton-plus finishes. Twelve days before the World Matchplay 2006, he quit his old job as a mechanic to turn professional.
