Lionel Sams
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| Lionel Sams | ||
|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||
| Full name | Lionel Jeffrey Sams | |
| Nickname | The Lion | |
| Date of birth | January 20, 1961 | |
| Place of birth | Paddington,  |
|
| Home town | Kingston upon Thames, |
|
| Darts information | ||
| Playing darts since | 1986 | |
| Darts | A180/Lionel Sams 19gm Tungsten | |
| Walk-on music | {{{music}}} | |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | ||
| PDC | since 2001 | |
| Current World Ranking | 43 | |
| PDC Majors - 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 Televised PDC events - Best Performances | ||
| US Open | Last 32, 2007 | |
| Other Tournament Wins | ||
| Tournament | Years | |
| West Tyrone Open Cosham Open |
2007 2001 |
|
| Other Achievements | ||
| Nine dart finish Le Skratch Open, Montreal, 12th May 2002 | ||
|
Infobox last updated on: February 11, 2008. |
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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 and failed to qualify for the 2008 Championship.
Sams consistently reached the last 16 of tournaments on the PDC circuit - which 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. He slipped outside the top 32 towards the end of 2007, and as a result he inadvertedly failed to enter himself for the qualifying rounds for the 2008 World Championship - missing out on the tournament for the first time since 2003.
Sams did enjoy success at the West Tyrone Open in February 2007 by winning the singles and the doubles event (with Sean MaGowan) [2]
