1993 BDO World Darts Championship
| Embassy World Darts Championship | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament information | |||
| Dates | 1–9 January 1993 | ||
| Venue | Lakeside Country Club | ||
| Location | Frimley Green, Surrey | ||
| Country | England | ||
| Organisation(s) | BDO | ||
| Format |
Sets Final – best of 11 | ||
| Prize fund | £128,500 | ||
| Winners share | £30,000 | ||
| High checkout |
170  Raymond van BarneveldRound 2 vs  John Lowe | ||
| Champion(s) | |||
|
John Lowe | |||
| |||
The 1993 Embassy World Darts Championship will have a notoriety within the history of World Darts. It was the 16th staging of the competition, but it turned out to be the last time that the sport had a unified World Championship.
From 1989 to 1991, the Embassy World Championship was the only darts tournament which had received television coverage, and a group of 16 players (including all previous World Champions) wanted to appoint a PR consultant to improve the image of the game. They created the World Darts Council (WDC), later the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in late January 1992, soon after a controversial VHS release of the 1992 Embassy World Final between Phil Taylor and Mike Gregory.
By the time of the 1993 Embassy World Championship, the WDC had already held their own tournament, the 1992 Lada UK Classic (won by Mike Gregory) in October 1992. The tournament had been broadcast on Anglia Television, and the WDC players wanted to see their exposure to television coverage increase.
During the 1993 Embassy World Championship, the WDC players wore their new insignia on their sleeves. They were soon told to remove them by the tournament organisers, the BDO.[1] The WDC players decided that if they were not going to be recognised by the BDO they would no longer play in the Embassy Championships.[2]
During the tournament, the 16 WDC players released a statement saying that they would only play in the 1994 Embassy World Championship if it came under the auspices of the WDC, and that they only recognised the WDC as having the authority to sanction their participation in darts tournaments worldwide.
The second round saw several upset results including defeats of three former World Champions. Eric Bristow lost to Bob Anderson, while defending champion Phil Taylor lost to Kevin Spiolek. Dennis Priestley, the number one seed and tournament favourite, lost to Steve Beaton, despite Priestley having thrown a record average of 102.63 against Jocky Wilson in the first round. Other notable upsets during the tournament were Kevin Spiolek beating Kevin Kenny in the first round, Wayne Weening beating Rod Harrington in the first round, and Bobby George beating Mike Gregory in the quarter finals.
John Lowe went on to beat Alan Warriner in the final and claim this last ever unified world title in the sports of darts - the third world title of Lowe's career. With his previous victories in 1979 and 1987, he became the first player to win the World title in three different decades.
Prize money
Total Prize fund was £128,500 (plus a £51,000 bonus for a nine-dart finish - not won)
- Champion £30,000
- Runner-up £15,000
- Semi-finalists £7,500
- Quarter-finalists £3,750
- 2nd round losers £2,000
- 1st round losers £1,800
- Highest checkout £1,500
- Non-qualifiers £400
Seeds
- Dennis Priestley
- Mike Gregory
- Phil Taylor
- Rod Harrington
- Alan Warriner
- John Lowe
-
Keith Sullivan - Bob Anderson
The Results
| First round | Second round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | |||||||||||
| Best of 5 sets | Best of 5 sets | Best of 7 sets | Best of 9 sets | |||||||||||
| Steve Beaton (96.21) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Dave Richardson (88.71) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Beaton (96.09) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Priestley (93.27) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Dennis Priestley (102.63) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Jocky Wilson (96.09) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Beaton (97.29) |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Bob Anderson (91.20) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow (86.67) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Per Skau (84.69) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Eric Bristow (85.41) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Bob Anderson (89.88) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Bob Anderson (90.48) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Scott Coleman (90.90) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Steve Beaton (91.86) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Warriner (90.24) |
5 | |||||||||||||
| Ronnie Sharp (94.47) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Peter Hunt (82.44) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Ronnie Sharp (88.83) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Warriner (95.49) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Warriner (98.46) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Mitchell Crooks (91.62) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Alan Warriner (90.81) |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Wayne Weening (86.85) |
1 | |||||||||||||
 Albert Anstey (82.71) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Sean Downs (73.62) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Albert Anstey (89.07) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Wayne Weening (93.93) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Wayne Weening (86.64) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Rod Harrington (93.39) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Jann Hoffmann (81.99) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 Bernd Hebecker (70.53) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Jann Hoffmann (86.55) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Mike Gregory (91.56) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Mike Gregory (94.77) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Jamie Harvey (86.91) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Mike Gregory (93.39) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George (93.21) |
4 | |||||||||||||
 Martin Phillips (87.27) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Dave Kelly (83.34) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Martin Phillips (90.00) |
0 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George (91.26) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George (86.55) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Keith Sullivan (88.89) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Bobby George (90.51) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| John Lowe (92.10) |
5 | |||||||||||||
| Raymond van Barneveld (89.43) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Graham Miller (85.68) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| Raymond van Barneveld (86.94) |
2 | |||||||||||||
| John Lowe (86.97) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| John Lowe (85.23) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Chris Johns (79.56) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| John Lowe (89.25) |
4 | |||||||||||||
| Kevin Spiolek (86.46) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Kevin Spiolek (84.33) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Kevin Kenny (82.95) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Kevin Spiolek (86.49) |
3 | |||||||||||||
| Phil Taylor (87.93) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Phil Taylor (91.59) |
3 | |||||||||||||
 John Joe O'Shea (86.97) |
1 | |||||||||||||
| Final (Best of 11 sets) Saturday 9 January | ||
| (82.32) Alan Warriner |
3-6 | John Lowe (83.97) |
| Highest Checkout: | 1-3, 0-3, 3-2, 0-3, 1-3, 2-3, 3-1, 3-1, 1-3 | Highest Checkout: |
| John Lowe wins the 1993 Embassy World Darts Championship | ||
References
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