Cliff Lazarenko
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cliff Lazarenko | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Personal information | ||
| Nickname | Big Cliff | |
| Date of birth | March 16, 1952 | |
| Place of birth | Liss, England | |
| Home town | Wellingborough, England | |
| Darts information | ||
| Playing darts since | 1970's | |
| Darts | 20g Golden Unicorn | |
| Walk-on music | {{{music}}} | |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | ||
| BDO | 1977 to 1993 | |
| PDC | 1993 to present | |
| Current World Ranking | 182 | |
| BDO Grand Slam Events - Best Performances | ||
| World Ch'ship | Semi-Finals 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990 | |
| World Masters | Semi-Finals 1978 | |
| PDC Majors - Best Performances | ||
| World Ch'ship | Quarter-Finals 1997 | |
| World Matchplay | Semi-Finals 1995 | |
| World Grand Prix | Last 32 2001, 2002 | |
| UK Open | Last 16 2003 | |
| Other Televised PDC events - Best Performances | ||
| Other Tournament Wins | ||
| Tournament | Years | |
| British Open Denmark Open Flowers Dartsathlon |
1980, 1984 1981, 1983 1982, 1983 |
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Cliff Lazarenko (born March 16, 1952), in Liss, is an English professional darts player who competed for the British Darts Organisation and the Professional Darts Corporation. Nicknamed Big Cliff, he is well known for being a very colourful character on and off the stage.
Big Cliff made his first TV appearance on the 1970s television show Indoor League. He since went on the light up the darting circuit, winning numerous titles in both singles and pairs events. He is a four-time World Championship semi-finalist. In 1980, he lost out to Bobby George; the next year he gained revenge on George by beating him in the quarter-finals, eventually losing to world champion Eric Bristow. In 1985, he reached the semi-finals again, this time without losing a single set en route, winning the opening round against Singapore's Paul Lim (2-0), the second round against the Swede Stefan Lord (3-0), and the quarter-finals against Northern Irish player Fred McMullan (4-0), but was narrowly defeated in the semi-finals by fellow Englishman John Lowe, 5-3. He reached the semis again in 1990, but once again fell short of the final, losing 5-0 to eventual winner Phil Taylor
Lazarenko was one of the sixteen players who defected from the BDO to form the PDC. Although he managed to maintain his popularity with the fans, he never managed to repeat his performances in the PDC World Darts Championship, with several first-round exits to his name, and only managing a quarter-final at best in 1999. In other PDC tournaments, however, Lazarenko showed great promise: he reached the semi-finals of the 1995 World Matchplay, beating Dennis Smith, Shayne Burgess and Nigel Justice along the way, before losing to Dennis Priestley. He was also a Matchplay quarter-finalist in 2001.
Lazarenko has being suffering from ill health over the past 12 months, and has now lost a great deal of weight. Because of his illness, he no longer took part in tournaments. However, in the 2007 UK Open Darts at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton, Lazarenko made a welcome return to the big stage, and won two matches in one night, en route to the second round. He then won another game the next night, before finally falling in the third round.
