The 2016 BDO Lakeside World Championship was a superb tournament with huge drama, great comebacks and some incredible darts. Winmau, the world’s leading darts brand, enjoyed it more than most as their players won both the men’s and women’s titles!
Trina Gulliver MBE deserves a very special mention. She was crowned Lakeside champion for a record 10th time on Saturday and looks to be back to her best after a couple of tough years on and off the oche.
The “Golden Girl” had to produce some of the best darts of her career to overcome Dee Bateman, Lisa Ashton and Aileen de Graaf to reach the final where she faced Deta Hedman. Deta was searching for her first World title, but Trina showed she had the heart of a champion to win 3-2 in a tightly contested match.
Trina’s 10th World championship victory is a feat that may never be bettered in the Ladies game – at least not for a very long time!
What a week for Scott Waites!! His Lakeside dream looked to be over twice, but he dug deep and showed a true champion’s spirit by coming from behind to defeat Geert de Vos and tournament favourite Glen Durrant before beating Jamie Hughes to set up a final against the impressive Canadian Jeff Smith.
Jeff performed at the top of his game all week and the final looked like it was going to be a close affair. However, Scotty “Too Hotty” showed superb composure and class to win 7-1. Coincidentally, this was the same score when Scott defeated Tony O’Shea in 2013 to pick up his first World title.
Scott’s win is all the more impressive considering he has not quite fully recovered from shoulder surgery last year, and he now joins an elite group of players to have won the Lakeside on more than one occasion.
Scott was using new darts made for him by Winmau, and he admitted they provided him with the edge he needed to bring his game back to the highest level.
Joshua Richardson was a worthy Youth World Champion. He played Jordan Boyce in the final and had to come from 2 sets to 1 down to win 3-2. Both of these players look to have a very bright future on the oche, and they are testament to the BDO’s progressive youth policy.
Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all the players, fans, officials, referees, Lakeside staff and television companies for an amazing 9 days of darts.
Scott’s and Trina’s darts are available from all good stockists, and the ranges can be viewed here:
Scott Waites: http://www.winmau.com/pages/2278/2016_-_waites/
Trina Gulliver: http://www.winmau.com/pages/2340/2016_-_gulliver/?act=det&p=1990
