The World Darts Trophy was a darts tournament held each September at De Vechtsebanen in Utrecht, Netherlands between 2002 and 2007. The tournament has a playing format comparable with the two World Championships, the BDO World Darts Championship and the PDC World Darts Championship. Until 2007, it formed part of the BDO Grand Slam, along with the Lakeside World Championship, the Winmau World Masters and the International Darts League.
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First held in 2002, the tournament was played under the auspices of the World Darts Federation, British Darts Organisation and the NDB (Nederlandse Darts Bond, the Dutch governing body of darts) and predominantly featured players from those organisations.
However, in 2006, following Raymond van Barneveld's move to the PDC, host broadcasters SBS 6, were able to grant invitations to five non-WDF affiliated players, meaning that players from the PDC would be able to compete in the event for the first time. Van Barneveld, along with Phil Taylor, Colin Lloyd, Ronnie Baxter and Peter Manley were given the invitations.
In 2007, the WDT included the top 12 players in the PDC Order of Merit and four PDC Qualifiers, giving a total of 16 PDC players who would line up alongside 12 from the WDF rankings and 4 wildcards, which were given to Jelle Klaasen, Michael van Gerwen, Vincent van der Voort and Mervyn King, all of whom had left the BDO to join the PDC earlier that year.[1].
However the tournament's came to an end when the PDC decided not to allow their players to the compete in either of the two Dutch events in 2008.
Towards the end of 2007, the chairman of the PDC, Barry Hearn, announced that its players would not be competing in the 2008 International Darts League and World Darts Trophy events. As a result, SBS6 announced they would no longer be broadcasting the event, with their coverage relying heavily on big names such as van Barneveld, which then cast doubts over whether either tournament would go ahead.
The tournament promoters filed a lawsuit against the PDC and SBS6 claiming a contract had been agreed for the PDC players to be involved. The case ended in failure on 21 February 2008, and the International Darts League was indefinitely postponed. The future of the World Darts Trophy was also thrown into doubt as a result of the decision,[2] and both events were confirmed defunct by the failure of an appeal on April 29, 2008.[3]
| Year | Champion (average in final)[4] | Score (sets) | Runner-Up (average in final) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Tony David (97.80) | 6–0 | Tony O'Shea (90.48) |
| 2003 | Raymond van Barneveld (104.91) | 6–2 | Mervyn King (98.07) |
| 2004 | Raymond van Barneveld (94.71) | 6–4 | Martin Adams (91.50) |
| 2005 | Gary Robson (91.50) | 6–4 | Mervyn King (88.80) |
| 2006 | Phil Taylor (102.21) | 7–2 | Martin Adams (94.77) |
| 2007 | Gary Anderson (103.32) | 7–3 | Phil Taylor (102.30) |
2002 Mieke de Boer beat Crissy Howat (now Crissy Manley) 3–1 (sets)
2003 Trina Gulliver beat Francis Hoenselaar 3–1 (sets)
2004 Francis Hoenselaar beat Anastasia Dobromyslova 3–1 (sets)
2005 Karin Krappen beat Francis Hoenselaar 3–1 (sets)
2006 Women's tournament discontinued
2006 Ron Meulenkamp beat Sven van Dun 6–1 (legs)
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