Jamie Caven

Jamie Robert Caven (born 10 March 1976 in Leicester) is an English professional darts player. He has won seven events on the PDC Pro Tour, including two in the same weekend in May 2013. Caven was also the World Youth Masters champion in 1993.

Early life

Caven has no sight in his right eye, after being stung by a bee when he was 18 months old.^[1] At the age of 17, Caven won the World Youth Masters.^[1] When he was 20, tumours were found in his pancreas resulting in its removal and his requirement to have four insulin injections a day for the rest of his life. This is where his darts nickname Jabba originated.^[2]

Career

Caven qualified for the 2008 World Championship at Alexandra Palace, and defeated Wes Newton in the first round 3–0, before playing Wayne Mardle in the second round, taking the first set before losing 4–1.^[3]

Caven won his first PDC title, by edging Alan Tabern in a final leg decider to win the UK Open Welsh Regional in Newport in May 2009.^[4] A month later he reached his first PDC major quarter-final at the UK Open, where he lost 10–3 to Colin Osborne.^[5]

Caven lost in the first round of the 2010 PDC World Championship to Gary Anderson 3–2.^[6]

He won his first round match of the 2011 World Championship by defeating South Africa's Devon Petersen, 3–2, but was then whitewashed 4–0 by Colin Osborne in the last 32.

Caven was seeded 18 for the 2012 World Championship but lost to Roland Scholten 1–3 in the first round.^[7] Caven trailed Joe Cullen 0–4 and 1–5 in the last 16 of the UK Open, but produced a superb comeback, concluding with a 160 finish in the deciding leg to take the match 9–8.^[8] He played Denis Ovens in the quarter-finals and lost 6–10.^[9] Caven qualified from Group 7 of the Championship League with a 6–4 victory against Paul Nicholson.^[10] He finished 2nd in the Winners Group, having won five of his seven league matches, but then lost to Simon Whitlock 4–6 in the semi-finals, having led 4–3.^[11] After all 33 ProTour events of 2012 had been played, Caven was 31st on the Order of Merit, just inside the top 32 who qualified for the Players Championship Finals.^[12] He lost to Whitlock 3–6 in the first round.^[13]

Caven let a 2–1 set lead slip in the first round of the 2013 World Championship as he lost 2–3 to qualifier John Bowles.^[14] He reached the final of the fourth UK Open Qualifier in March, but lost to Robert Thornton 4–6 having defeated Gary Anderson 6–2 in the semi-finals.^[15] Caven won his first title for over two years in May at the third Players Championship, winning seven matches on the day concluding with a 6–4 victory over Paul Nicholson in the final.^[16] His form continued into the fourth event a day later as he won it by beating Jelle Klaasen 6–4 in the final with an incredible average of 110.68.^[17] An unlucky draw at the UK Open saw him face James Wade in the third round and he lost 7–9.^[18] At the European Championship, Caven beat Dave Chisnall 6–0 and Wade 10–2 to breeze into the quarter-finals.^[19] He played Simon Whitlock and led 9–3 only to suffer a huge comeback from the Australian as Caven lost seven legs in a row to be beaten 10–9.^[20] Caven fought back from 5–2 and 7–4 down to Wes Newton in the first round of the World Matchplay to win 10–8.^[21] He almost produced another turn around in his next game against Chisnall as he led 10–7 from being 6–2 down having twice set up the possibility of a nine darter by hitting back to back maximums. However, Caven then lost six legs in a row to exit the tournament.^[22] In October, he reached the final of the 11th Players Championship but was edged out 6–5 by Robert Thornton.^[23] He lost 9–4 to Justin Pipe in the second round of the Players Championship Finals having beaten Colin Lloyd 6–3 in the opener.^[24]

Caven beat Jelle Klaasen 3–1 in the first round of the 2014 World Championship to set up a meeting with Raymond van Barneveld.^[25] Caven took the first set in a deciding leg by hitting a 136 finish with Van Barneveld waiting on 20 and then missed one dart to take a 2–0 lead, instead going on to trail 2–1. Caven won two successive sets to regain the advantage but could only win more leg after this in a 4–3 defeat.^[26]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2008: Second round (lost to Wayne Mardle 1–4)
• 2009: First round (lost to Mark Walsh 2–3)
• 2010: First round (lost to Gary Anderson 2–3)
• 2011: Second round (lost to Colin Osborne 0–4)
• 2012: First round (lost to Roland Scholten 1–3)
• 2013: First round (lost to John Bowles 2–3)
• 2014: Second round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 3–4)

Personal life

He married Debbie on 15 August 2009 and together they have 4 children (2 daughters and 2 sons).

References

External links

• Jamie Caven's new official website
• Jamie Caven's profile and stats on Darts Database
• Unicorn Darts
• 2010 Interview with Jamie Caven a Darts, Beers & Cheers!