Lionel Sams
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lionel Sams | ||
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Image:Lionelsams.jpg
Sams with wife Caroline
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| Personal information | ||
| Full name | Lionel Jeffrey Sams | |
| Nickname | The Lion | |
| Date of birth | January 20, 1961 (age 46) | |
| Place of birth | Paddington,  |
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| Home town | Kingston upon Thames, |
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| Darts information | ||
| Playing darts since | 1986 | |
| Darts | A180/Lionel Sams 19gm Tungsten | |
| Organisation | ||
| PDC | since 2001 | |
| Current World Ranking | 31 | |
| PDC Televised Events - Best Performances | ||
| World Ch'ship | Last 16, 2004 | |
| World Matchplay | Last 16, 2006 | |
| World Grand Prix | Last 16, 2006 | |
| UK Open | Last 16, 2005 | |
| Desert Classic | Last 32, 2004, 2005 | |
| Other Tournament Wins | ||
| Tournament | Years | |
| West Tyrone Open Cosham Open |
2007 2001 |
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| Other Achievements | ||
| Nine dart finish Le Skratch Open, Montreal, 12th May 2002 | ||
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Infobox last updated on: February 22, 2007. |
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Lionel Jeffrey Sams (born January 20, 1961 in Paddington, London) is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation tournaments. He uses the nickname The Lion for his matches.
Sams made his television darts debut on Anglia Television in 1986 at the Ladbrokes Festival (British Matchplay). He reached the final, but lost to Terry O'Dea. He then had some minor tournament victories including the Camber Sands Singles (1988) and Kent Open (1988 and 1989) but it was a long time before he made any impact on the darts circuit.
His career turned for the better after joining the PDC. He hit a perfect nine-dart leg in a match against Ronnie Baxter in Montreal in May 2002 - there was no prize for the achievement but players passed round a hat to collect $400 [1]. He qualified for the PDC World Championship for the first time in 2004 and beat Roland Scholten before losing to Simon Whatley in the last 16. His record at the World Championship has been poor since, he lost his first match at each of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Championships.
Sams consistently reaches the last 16 of tournaments on the PDC circuit - which has helped him maintain a world ranking inside the top 32. He had been seeded 16 in 2006 and 22 in 2007 for the World Championship as a result. But he has failed to achieve success in televised tournaments having yet to reach the quarter-final stage of any of the majors.
Sams did enjoy success at the West Tyrone Open in February 2007 by winning the singles and the doubles event (with Sean MaGowan) [2]
[edit] Outside darts
Lionel was divorced from his wife Caroline in 1998, but they got back together and he proposed again after his third round win at the World Championships in 2004 - she accepted and they have since re-married. Caroline takes a mascot lion teddy bear called Kingston to all Lionel's matches.
