2008 PDC World Darts Championship

October 2017 October 2017 the sports video game PDC World Championship Darts 2008 2008 PDC World Darts Championship 17 December 2007 – 1 January 2008 Alexandra Palace London PDC Legs (preliminaries)Sets (from Round 1)Final – best of 13 £589,000 £100,000 170 Mervyn King Wayne Mardle James Wade John Part 2007 2009 The 2008 PDC World Darts Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2008 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship) was the fifteenth World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place between 17 December 2007 and 1 January 2008 at the Alexandra Palace, London, England. John Part won his third World Championship, beating the qualifier Kirk Shepherd 7–2 in the final. He joined Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Eric Bristow, and John Lowe as the only people to have won more than two world titles, although they have since been joined by Martin Adams, Michael van Gerwen and Glen Durrant. He is also one of seven players to have won the PDC World Darts Championship more than once, along with Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright and Luke Littler. In addition, he became the first player to have won World Championships in three different venues; the Lakeside, the Circus Tavern and the Alexandra Palace. Raymond van Barneveld was the defending champion having won the PDC World Championship at the first attempt in an epic final against Taylor in 2007. He was knocked out in the third round with a 4–2 loss to Kevin Painter. Taylor failed to reach the final of the competition for the first time in PDC World Championship history, after losing 5–4 to Wayne Mardle in the quarter-finals. In addition to several highly ranked players failing to reach the latter stages of the competition, an argument could be made that this tournament had, statistically, the lowest standard of play from any PDC World Championship this millennium. A distinct lack of quality was exhibited across the draw: no single player achieved a 3-dart average of over 100 in any match in the entire tournament, the highest being John Part's average of 99.06 in his second-round match against Mensur Suljovic; additionally, there were only six 3-dart averages of 96 or higher in any match in the entire tournament (see Draw below). Kirk Shepherd, meanwhile, incredibly finished runner-up in the tournament without averaging over 90 in any match he played in the tournament - he is the only player to achieve this feat in any PDC World Championship event this millennium. Shepherd was also the first player making his PDC World Championship debut to reach the final, without having played in a BDO World Championship. After being staged at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet for 14 years, the tournament moved to the Alexandra Palace in London.PDC championship moves to London 2 April 2007 The championships had been considered to have outgrown the Circus Tavern whose capacity of 800–1,000 spectators was considerably smaller than some Holsten Premier League darts events in 2007 which saw crowds reaching 5,000. The Alexandra Palace was the venue of the News of the World Darts Championship between 1963 and 1977 and boasts a capacity for 2008 of 2,500. Format and qualifiers The televised stages featured 68 players. The top 32 players in the PDC Order of Merit on 12 November 2007 received an automatic place in the World Championship.Current PDC Order of Merit https://web.archive.org/web/20081204061541/http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/OrderofMerit/0%2C%2C10180%2C00.html 4 December 2008 Top 32 players will qualify for World Championships They were joined by 16 PDPA members and 20 international qualifiers determined by the PDC and PDPA. The 16 PDPA members were made up from the top eight players (who had not already qualified) in the PDC Pro Tour Events during 2007: Jelle Klaasen, Mark Walsh, Tony Eccles, Michael van Gerwen, Steve Brown, Dave Askew, Jason Clark and Matt Clark.Current Players Championship Order of Merit https://web.archive.org/web/20070309153717/http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/OrderofMerit/0,,10180~969173,00.html 9 March 2007 Top eight will qualify for World Championship The final eight qualifiers were determined at a PDPA Qualifying event which was held on 17 November 2007 in Wolverhampton – prior to the Grand Slam of Darts tournament. The successful players were Steve Maish, Jan van der Rassel, Colin Monk, Steve Evans, Jamie Caven, Steve Hine, Kirk Shepherd and Jason Barry. Former world champions John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Keith Deller and Richie Burnett all played in the qualifying rounds but failed to reach the televised stages. Order of Merit ENG Phil Taylor NED Raymond van Barneveld ENG James Wade ENG Terry Jenkins ENG Peter Manley ENG Adrian Lewis ENG Andy Hamilton NED Roland Scholten ENG Wayne Mardle ENG Dennis Priestley CAN John Part ENG Colin Lloyd WAL Barrie Bates ENG Ronnie Baxter ENG Kevin Painter ENG Andy Jenkins ENG Alan Tabern ENG Mark Dudbridge ENG Chris Mason ENG Colin Osborne ENG Denis Ovens ENG Andy Smith ENG Wayne Jones ENG Wes Newton ENG Mervyn King NED Vincent van der Voort ENG Alex Roy ENG Alan Warriner-Little IRE Mick McGowan ENG Steve Beaton ENG Bob Anderson ENG Adrian Gray Pro Tour NED Jelle Klaasen ENG Mark Walsh NED Michael van Gerwen ENG Steve Brown ENG Matt Clark ENG Tony Eccles ENG Dave Askew SCO Jason Clark PDPA qualifiers ENG Jamie Caven ENG Kirk Shepherd ENG Steve Hine ENG Steve Maish IRE Jason Barry WAL Steve Evans NED Jan van der Rassel ENG Colin Monk 2em PDC North American Pro TourOrder of MeritFirst round qualifiers USA Gary Mawson USA Ray Carver CAN Gerry Convery CAN Dan Olson Dutch/Belgian DDFOrder of MeritFirst round qualifiers NED Leroy Kwadijk NED Toon Greebe German Darts CorporationOrder of MeritFirst round qualifiers AUT Mensur Suljović GER Michael Rosenauer Danish Order of MeritFirst round qualifiers DEN Per Laursen Australia Order of MeritFirst round qualifiers AUS Steve MacArthur Oceanic Masters winnerFirst round qualifiers NZL Warren Parry South African Open winnerFirst round qualifiers RSA Charles Losper International qualifiersPreliminary round qualifiers JPN Akihiro Nagakawa BAR Anthony Forde PHI Rizal Barellano CZE Miloslav Navrátil NZL Alan Bolton NED Erwin Extercatte IND Ashfaque Sayed CHN Shi Yongsheng Prize money The 2008 World Championship featured a prize fund of £589,000. The prize money for earlier round losers was increased, whilst the winner and runner-up prize money was unchanged.Tournament structure https://web.archive.org/web/20070309153450/http://www.planetdarts.tv/page/OrderofMerit/0,,10180~960166,00.html 9 March 2007 Planetdarts website. Position (num. of players) Prize money(Total: £589,000)Winner (1) £100,000Runner-Up (1) £50,000Semi-finalists (2) £22,500Quarter-finalists (4) £15,000Third round losers (8) £10,500Second round losers (16) £7,000First round losers (32) £4,000Preliminary round losers (4) £2,500Nine-dart finish (0) £20,000 Draw Preliminary round (best of nine legs, played Wednesday 19 December and Thursday 20 December) Av. Three dart average Player Score Player Av. Three dart average 68.85 Akihiro Nagakawa JPN 2 – 5 BAR Anthony Forde 69.83 68.58 Rizal Barellano PHI 0 – 5CZE Miloslav Navrátil 74.96 60.38 Alan Bolton NZL 0 – 5 NED Erwin Extercatte 63.15 72.03 Ashfaque Sayed IND 0 – 5 CHN Shi Yongsheng 78.28 Draw Finals Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets)29 December Semi-finals (best of 11 sets)30 December Final (best of 13 sets)1 January 200 1 ENG Phil Taylor 92.32 4 9 ENG Wayne Mardle 92.20 5 5 ENG Peter Manley 94.27 4 ENG Kirk Shepherd 89.70 5 15 ENG Kevin Painter 87.51 5 7 ENG Adrian Lewis 86.26 2 11 CAN John Part 94.81 5 3 ENG James Wade 91.48 4 9 ENG Wayne Mardle 92.36 4 ENG Kirk Shepherd 88.77 6 15 ENG Kevin Painter 91.94 2 11 CAN John Part 92.84 6 ENG Kirk Shepherd 85.10 2 11 CAN John Part 92.86 7 Rounds 1-4 4 First round (best of 5 sets)17–22 December Second round (best of 7 sets)22–27 December Third round (best of 7 sets)27–28 December Quarter-finals (best of 9 sets)29 December Semi-finals (best of 11 sets)30 December Final (best of 13 sets)1 January 200 1 ENG Phil Taylor 91.11 3 NED Michael van Gerwen 85.99 2 32 ENG Adrian Gray 88.01 2 ENG Mark Walsh 87.63 3 16 ENG Andy Jenkins 86.80 3 CZE Miloslav Navrátil 83.12 2 17 ENG Alan Tabern 87.96 3 DEN Per Laursen 84.17 1 8 NED Roland Scholten 94.25 3 ENG Matt Clark 93.88 2 25 ENG Mervyn King 95.97 3 GER Michael Rosenauer 86.60 2 9 ENG Wayne Mardle 91.13 3 USA Ray Carver 90.30 2 24 ENG Wes Newton 87.15 0 ENG Jamie Caven 89.36 3 5 ENG Peter Manley 90.09 3 NED Toon Greebe 89.60 2 28 ENG Alan Warriner-Little 80.98 3 CHN Shi Yongsheng 76.38 1 12 ENG Colin Lloyd 85.75 2 NED Jan van der Rassel 90.66 3 21 ENG Denis Ovens 85.08 3 ENG Colin Monk 69.48 0 4 ENG Terry Jenkins 83.62 2 ENG Kirk Shepherd 79.09 3 29 IRE Mick McGowan 86.66 3 IRE Jason Barry 87.75 0 13 WAL Barrie Bates 82.99 3 CAN Gerry Convery 79.50 0 20 ENG Colin Osborne 90.33 1 NED Erwin Extercatte 92.58 3 2 NED Raymond van Barneveld 89.12 3 BAR Anthony Forde 81.84 0 31 ENG Bob Anderson 91.07 2 SCO Jason Clark 89.70 3 15 ENG Kevin Painter 96.45 3 USA Gary Mawson 83.86 0 18 ENG Chris Mason 84.72 3 ENG Steve Brown 77.61 1 7 ENG Adrian Lewis 96.79 3 ENG Dave Askew 90.46 1 26 NED Vincent van der Voort 86.94 3 NED Jelle Klaasen 90.27 2 10 ENG Dennis Priestley 92.06 1 ENG Steve Maish 92.59 3 23 ENG Wayne Jones 83.71 0 ENG Tony Eccles 91.17 3 6 ENG Andy Hamilton 90.20 3 NED Leroy Kwadijk 74.17 1 27 ENG Alex Roy 86.41 3 NZL Warren Parry 83.56 2 11 CAN John Part 94.08 3 RSA Charles Losper 85.21 1 22 ENG Andy Smith 81.11 2 AUT Mensur Suljović 83.26 3 3 ENG James Wade 89.82 3 AUS Steve MacArthur 75.66 0 30 ENG Steve Beaton 76.99 3 WAL Steve Evans 75.56 0 14 ENG Ronnie Baxter 90.31 3 CAN Dan Olson 85.17 2 19 ENG Mark Dudbridge 85.46 3 ENG Steve Hine 83.07 1 1 ENG Taylor 94.52 4 ENG Walsh 89.52 3 16 ENG A. Jenkins 80.04 0 17 ENG Tabern 86.04 4 8 NED Scholten 93.10 4 25 ENG King 90.31 2 9 ENG Mardle 89.61 4 ENG Caven 82.35 1 5 ENG Manley 88.96 4 28 ENG Warriner-Little 82.55 1 NED van der Rassel 90.99 4 21 ENG Ovens 90.22 1 ENG Shepherd 87.18 4 29 IRE McGowan 85.09 3 13 WAL Bates 82.36 4 NED Extercatte 84.00 3 2 NED van Barneveld 92.31 4 SCO Clark 87.96 1 15 ENG Painter 92.04 4 18 ENG Mason 83.91 0 7 ENG Lewis 91.81 4 26 NED van der Voort 96.46 2   ENG Maish 87.29 3 ENG Eccles 91.08 4 6 ENG Hamilton 90.97 1 27 ENG Roy 91.33 4 11 CAN Part 99.06 4 AUT Suljović 91.26 1 3 ENG Wade 90.92 4 30 ENG Beaton 87.80 3 14 ENG Baxter 91.82 2 19 ENG Dudbridge 87.92 4 1 ENG Taylor 96.71 4 17 ENG Tabern 93.42 3 8 NED Scholten 91.86 3 9 ENG Mardle 89.28 4 5 ENG Manley 87.75 4 NED van der Rassel 86.76 1 ENG Shepherd 85.86 4 13 WAL Bates 85.61 2 2 NED van Barneveld 90.75 2 15 ENG Painter 95.20 4 7 ENG Lewis 94.19 4 ENG Eccles 97.20 3 27 ENG Roy 85.16 0 11 CAN Part 91.32 4 3 ENG Wade 84.54 4 19 ENG Dudbridge 84.96 2 1 ENG Taylor 92.32 4 9 ENG Mardle 92.20 5 5 ENG Manley 94.27 4 ENG Shepherd 89.70 5 15 ENG Painter 87.51 5 7 ENG Lewis 86.26 2 11 CAN Part 94.81 5 3 ENG Wade 91.48 4 9 ENG Mardle 92.36 4 ENG Shepherd 88.77 6 15 ENG Painter 91.94 2 11 CAN Part 92.84 6 ENG Shepherd 85.10 2 11 CAN Part 92.86 7 Scores after player's names are three-dart averages (total points scored divided by darts thrown and multiplied by 3) Statistics Overall Highest Checkout: 170 (ENG Mervyn King, ENG James Wade, ENG Wayne Mardle) Total 180's scored: 478 Highest Match Average: 99.06 (CAN John Part, second round vs AUT Mensur Suljović) Individual statistics Player Played Sets Won Sets Lost Legs Won Legs Lost 100+ 140+ 180s High checkout 3-dart averageTournament averages http://www.DartsDatabase.co.uk/EventStats.aspx?EventKey=425 https://web.archive.org/web/20121007140307/http://www.dartsdatabase.co.uk/EventStats.aspx?EventKey=425 7 October 2012 live 8 March 2009 CAN John Part 6 29 10 98 68 202 112 34 160 94.42 ENG Kirk Shepherd 6 24 23 104 101 237 120 33 160 83.92 ENG Phil Taylor 4 15 13 66 59 162 70 19 137 93.67 NED Michael van Gerwen 1 2 3 11 13 29 15 1 106 85.99 ENG Adrian Gray 1 2 3 10 12 28 18 3 104 88.01 ENG Mark Walsh 2 6 6 23 24 52 38 10 156 88.58 ENG Andy Jenkins 2 3 6 14 19 31 15 9 142 83.42 Philippines Rizal Barellano 1 0 0 0 5 4 3 0 – 68.58 Czech Republic Miloslav Navrátil 2 2 3 12 11 14 8 6 81 79.04 ENG Alan Tabern 3 10 5 39 30 98 55 9 160 89.14 DEN Per Laursen 1 1 3 8 10 30 10 2 68 84.17 NED Roland Scholten 3 10 8 36 40 103 56 19 140 93.07 ENG Matt Clark 1 2 3 12 10 25 19 4 100 93.88 ENG Mervyn King 2 5 6 26 24 57 47 10 170 93.14 GER Michael Rosenauer 1 2 3 11 13 29 18 3 116 86.60 ENG Wayne Mardle 5 20 16 81 70 183 135 24 170 90.92 USA Ray Carver 1 2 3 8 11 26 7 7 110 90.30 ENG Wes Newton 1 0 3 4 9 14 11 2 81 87.15 ENG Jamie Caven 2 4 4 15 17 39 16 3 121 85.86 ENG Peter Manley 4 15 9 57 49 167 80 14 156 90.27 NED Toon Greebe 1 2 3 9 12 22 17 4 94 89.60 ENG Alan Warriner-Little 2 4 5 19 18 46 22 4 108 86.77 IND Ashfaque Sayed 1 0 0 0 5 4 2 0 – 72.03 CHN Shi Yongsheng 2 1 3 10 11 23 13 0 119 77.33 ENG Colin Lloyd 1 2 3 14 14 29 13 1 120 85.75 NED Jan van der Rassel 3 8 7 37 37 103 51 10 116 89.47 ENG Denis Ovens 2 4 4 18 14 46 20 6 100 87.65 ENG Colin Monk 1 0 3 0 9 4 4 0 – 69.48 ENG Terry Jenkins 1 2 3 10 10 32 13 1 56 83.62 IRE Mick McGowan 2 6 4 25 24 66 35 6 120 85.88 IRE Jason Barry 1 0 3 5 9 13 13 1 64 87.75 WAL Barrie Bates 3 9 7 36 28 101 34 6 120 83.66 CAN Gerry Convery 1 0 3 1 9 10 4 2 82 79.50 ENG Colin Osborne 1 1 3 8 9 14 6 10 144 90.33 NZL Alan Bolton 1 0 0 0 5 3 0 0 – 60.38 NED Erwin Extercatte 3 6 5 27 24 61 18 5 147 79.91 NED Raymond van Barneveld 3 9 5 34 25 73 36 13 120 90.73 JPN Akihiro Nagakawa 1 0 0 2 5 9 1 1 40 68.85 Barbados Anthony Forde 2 0 3 9 11 28 11 2 120 75.84 ENG Bob Anderson 1 2 3 10 11 30 16 4 141 91.07 SCO Jason Clark 2 4 6 19 24 53 32 9 104 88.83 ENG Kevin Painter 5 18 10 69 45 159 77 24 137 92.23 USA Gary Mawson 1 0 3 2 9 14 4 2 96 83.86 ENG Chris Mason 2 3 5 16 15 39 15 2 136 84.32 ENG Steve Brown 1 1 3 3 11 20 7 0 67 77.61 ENG Adrian Lewis 4 13 11 46 50 118 55 22 136 92.26 ENG Dave Askew 1 1 3 8 10 25 11 3 62 90.46 NED Vincent van der Voort 2 5 6 27 28 71 32 19 124 91.70 NED Jelle Klaasen 1 2 3 15 15 36 19 6 104 90.27 ENG Dennis Priestley 1 1 3 7 9 28 7 3 130 92.06 ENG Steve Maish 2 6 5 25 24 68 17 7 110 89.94 ENG Wayne Jones 1 0 3 3 9 22 7 0 42 83.71 ENG Tony Eccles 3 10 7 41 33 96 55 10 156 93.15 ENG Andy Hamilton 2 4 5 19 17 35 20 16 144 90.59 NED Leroy Kwadijk 1 1 3 3 11 10 6 0 160 74.17 ENG Alex Roy 3 7 7 35 30 108 41 5 124 87.63 NZL Warren Parry 1 2 3 11 16 41 13 1 91 83.56 RSA Charles Losper 1 1 3 8 11 18 9 4 94 85.21 ENG Andy Smith 1 2 3 11 12 34 16 2 88 81.11 AUT Mensur Suljović 2 4 6 17 23 38 15 11 111 87.26 ENG James Wade 4 15 6 59 46 134 72 17 170 89.19 AUS Steve MacArthur 1 0 3 1 9 15 5 0 16 75.66 ENG Steve Beaton 2 6 4 23 18 52 23 7 98 82.40 WAL Steve Evans 1 0 3 1 9 13 9 1 20 75.56 ENG Ronnie Baxter 2 5 6 23 25 71 25 9 137 91.07 CAN Dan Olson 1 2 3 9 13 23 12 6 120 85.17 ENG Mark Dudbridge 3 9 7 38 30 71 38 12 113 86.11 ENG Steve Hine 1 1 3 5 11 17 8 2 100 83.07 Representation from different countries This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the preliminary round. ENG ENG NED NED SCO SCO WAL WAL IRL IRL CAN CAN GER GER AUT AUT NZL NZL AUS AUS USA USA RSA RSA DEN DEN CHN CHN BAR BAR CZE CZE JPN JPN PHI PHI IND IND Total Final 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Semis 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Quarters 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 Round 3 11 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Round 2 22 5 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 Round 1 36 9 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 64 Prelim. 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 Total 36 9 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 68 Tournament review Day one Alan Tabern 3–1 Per Laursen Mark Walsh 0–3 Adrian Gray Wayne Mardle 3–0 Ray Carver Jan van der Rassel 3–2 Colin Lloyd Day two Roland Scholten 3–0 Matt Clark Peter Manley 3–0 Toon Greebe Phil Taylor 3–2 Michael Van Gerwen Mervyn King 3–1 Michael Rosenauer Day three, Wednesday 19 December Jamie Caven 2–3 Wes Newton Denis Ovens 3–1 Colin Monk Mick Mcgowan 3–0 Jason Barry Barrie Bates 3–0 Gerry Convery Jason Clark 3–2 Bob Anderson Kirk Shepherd 3–1 Terry Jenkins Chris Mason 3–1 Steve Brown Kevin Painter 3–0 Gary Mawson Day four, Thursday 20 December Andy Jenkins 3–1 Miloslav Navrátil Tony Eccles 1–3 Wayne Jones Andy Hamilton 3–1 Leroy Kwadijk Alex Roy 3–0 Warren Parry Steve Maish 3–1 Dennis Priestley Adrian Lewis 3–1 Dave Askew Raymond Van Barneveld 3–0 Anthony Forde Vincent Van Der Voort 3–2 Jelle Klaasen Day five, Friday 21 December Alan Warriner-Little 3–1 Shi Yongsheng Erwin Extercatte 0–3 Colin Osborne Mensur Suljovic 3–2 Andy Smith Steve Beaton 3–0 Steve Evans Ronnie Baxter 3–2 Dan Olson James Wade 3–0 Steve Macarthur John Part 3-1 Charles Losper Mark Dudbridge 3–1 Steve Hine Alan Tabern 4–0 Andy Jenkins (3–1 3–1 3–1 3–0) Jan Van Der Rassel 0–4 Denis Ovens (1–3 1–3 2–3 0–3) Peter Manley 4–2 Shi Yongsheng ( 3–0 3–0 1–3 3–2 0–3 3–1) Roland Scholten 0–4 Mervyn King ( 0–3 0–3 0–3 1–3) Phil Taylor 4–1 Adrian Gray ( 1–3 3–0 3–2 3–2 3–0) Wayne Mardle 4–2 Wes Newton (3–0 1–3 2–3 3–2 3–2 3–1) Sunday 23 December to Tuesday 25 December The tournament went into hiatus for the Christmas period. Barrie Bates 2–4 Colin Osborne 3–1 2–3 2–3 1–3 3–1 0–3 Kevin Painter 4–0 Chris Mason 3–0 3–0 3–0 3–2 Terry Jenkins 4–0 Mick Mcgowan 3–0 3–1 3–1 3–0 Adrian Lewis 4–3 Vincent Van Der Voort 3–0 3–1 3–0 1–3 1–3 1–3 5–3 John Part 4-1 Mensur Suljovic 3–1 3–1 1–3 3–1 3–1 James Wade 4–0 Steve Beaton 3–2 3–2 3–0 3–0 Day eight, Thursday 27 December Wayne Jones 4–0 Steve Maish 3–1 3–0 3–0 3–2 Alex Roy 1–4 Andy Hamilton 3–0 1–3 0–3 2–3 2–3 Mark Dudbridge 2–4 Ronnie Baxter 2–3 2–3 3–1 1–3 3–0 0–3 Raymond Van Barneveld 4–0 Jason Clark 3–0 3–0 3–0 1–3 3–1 Third round (Last 16) Phil Taylor 4–2 Alan Tabern 0–3 2–3 3–1 3–1 3–0 3–2 Wayne Mardle 4–1 Mervyn King 1–3 3–1 3–2 3–2 3–2 Day nine, Friday 28 December Raymond van Barneveld's reign as PDC World Championship was ended by Kevin Painter in a thrilling match which Painter finished off with a ten-dart leg to clinch the match 4–2. Painter hit seven consecutive treble 20s, en route to a possible nine dart leg before missing a treble 19 before completing a remarkable ten darter to go through to the quarter-finals. Earlier, James Wade overcame flu and Mark Dudbridge 4–2 to go through to his first World quarter-final and Kirk Shepherd defeated Barrie Bates 4–2 to be the surprise quarter-finalist. Peter Manley and John Part both had comfortable wins in their last 16 matches. The talking point of the day may have been the Adrian Lewis v Tony Eccles clash. Eccles started in sensational fashion winning the first eight legs, but couldn't close out the third set. He missed two darts at a double for a 3–0 sets lead and then Lewis started a fightback winning the next three sets to lead 3–2. Eccles fought back himself to level the match, but controversy came in the final set when the scores were level at 2 legs each. Lewis took an unscheduled comfort break just minutes after a scheduled one and when he came back he found his rhythm to win the next two legs and make the quarter-finals. Kirk Shepherd 4–2 Barrie Bates (3–0, 1–3, 3–2, 1–3, 3–2, 3–1) Adrian Lewis 4–3 Tony Eccles (0–3, 0–3, 3–2, 3–0, 3–2, 1–3, 4–2) James Wade 4–2 Mark Dudbridge (2–3, 3–1, 3–0, 3–2, 1–3, 3–2) Peter Manley 4–1 Jan Van Der Rassel (2–3, 3–1, 3–2, 3–2, 3–1) Kevin Painter 4–2 Raymond Van Barneveld (1–3, 3–0, 3–1, 0–3, 3–2, 3–2) John Part 4-0 Alex Roy (3–1, 3–2, 3–1, 3–1) Day ten, quarter-finals, Saturday 29 December For the first time in the 15-year history of the event, Phil Taylor failed to make it to the final after losing to Wayne Mardle. Taylor took an early 3–0 lead, but after winning a set Mardle's confidence increased and with the crowd behind him brought it back to 3–3. With the sets tied 4–4 the legs went with throw until 4–4 when Mardle broke Taylor with tops after Taylor missed double sixteen when the dart went the wrong side of the wire. Wayne closed out the match on his own darts with 140 and double 18 to win the final set 6–4 and a 5–4 win. Mardle immediately broke down into tears after the win. After the match Mardle said "it's not being in the semis that's important... it's beating that guy there (Taylor); he didn't play well, but I still had to play at my best to beat him" Taylor said "When I was 3 sets to nil up, I thought I'm going to beat him 5–0... If he gets his game together now he's got the biggest chance of his life to win it". World Matchplay champion James Wade also went out in the quarter-finals to two-time former World Champion John Part. It was a close match, but Part always stayed in front after establishing a 2–0 set lead. Wade did fight back from 1–3 to level the match. Kirk Shepherd continued his amazing run and for the third time in the tournament survived his opponent having darts to win the match. Peter Manley had two darts to win the final set 3–0, but Shepherd came back to win the final set 4–2. After sharing the first four sets, Kevin Painter beat Adrian Lewis 5–2. Kirk Shepherd 5–4 Peter Manley (3–0, 2–3, 3–2, 2–3, 1–3, 3–1, 2–3, 3–1, 4–2) John Part 5-4 James Wade (3–2, 3–0, 1–3, 3–1, 2–3, 1–3, 3–1, 0–3, 4–2) Wayne Mardle 5–4 Phil Taylor (0–3, 1–3, 0–3, 3–0, 3–1, 3–2, 2–3, 3–1, 6–4) Kevin Painter 5–2 Adrian Lewis (3–0, 2–3, 3–0, 1–3, 3–0, 3–1, 3–2) Day Eleven, Semi-finals, Sunday 30 December Kirk Shepherd's sensational run in the tournament continued as he beat Wayne Mardle in the semi-final to reach the final. Shepherd, the 21-year-old qualifier built up a 3–1 set lead and missed five darts to go 4–1 up only to see Mardle come back to take the lead 4–3. Mardle, who had beaten Phil Taylor the previous night in the quarter-finals looked to be on his way to his first world final before Shepherd fought back again to take the next three sets and become the first qualifier to reach the PDC World final. The other semi-final was a more clinical performance as John Part returned to the final always having the edge over 2004 finalist Kevin Painter. The fourth set was potential decisive as Painter missed darts to take a 2–0 leg lead. Part then took out the next two legs and a 13-darter in the fourth leg gave him a 3–1 set lead. Painter missed a dart at bullseye to bring the score back to 2–3, leaving Part a 44 finish to go 4–1 up – then also missed a chance to take the sixth set. Part took the match with a classy 130 finish for a 6–2 win. Kirk Shepherd 6–4 Wayne Mardle (0–3, 3–0, 3–2, 3–2, 2–3, 1–3, 2–3, 3–2, 3–1, 3–2) John Part 6-2 Kevin Painter (3–2, 3–2, 0–3, 3–1, 3–2, 3–2, 0–3, 3–2) Day Twelve, Final, Tuesday 1 January 2008 John Part became World Champion for the third time with a ruthless 7–2 victory over qualifier Kirk Shepherd. Shepherd had beaten world number four Terry Jenkins, three time world finalist Peter Manley and Phil Taylor's conqueror Wayne Mardle to become the first qualifier to reach the PDC World final – but he had no answer to Part's experience in the final. The early stages of the match were close with both of the first two sets going down to a deciding leg. Part just edged the first set and in the deciding leg of the second started with 140, 180 and a 15-dart leg for a 2–0 lead. Part then ran off the next six legs to find himself 4–0 in front and missed a bullseye for a 5–0 lead before Shepherd took his first set. The sixth set again went to last leg with Part re-establishing a four set lead but Shepherd continued to battle away and took the seventh set with a brilliant 160 finish. Part opened the eighth set with a 139 finish, then Shepherd hit an 88 to level it before checkouts of 52 and 80 from Part took him one set away from victory at 6–2. The Canadian closed out victory in the ninth set with a double ten in the fifth leg. John Part 7-2 Kirk Shepherd (3–2, 3–2, 3–0, 3–0, 2–3, 3–2, 2–3, 3–1, 3–2) Trivia Kirk Shepherd became the youngest player to ever reach a Darts World Championship (PDC or BDO) final. His record was broken on 2 January 2024 when Luke Littler advanced into the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship at the age of 16 years and 348 days.2024-01-02 Luke Littler - the 16-year-old who is changing darts at PDC World Championship en-GB BBC Sport https://www.bbc.com/sport/darts/67861277 2024-01-03 No one in the tournament achieved a match average of over 100, for the first time since 1995. As a result of Phil Taylor not advancing past the quarter-final stages, Raymond van Barneveld became the world number one. The tournament saw the first ever PDC World Championship final without the presence of Phil Taylor. None of the 4 semi-finalists from this tournament, the first at Alexandra Palace, have played at World Championship since the 2019 edition with Mardle not having qualified since 2010, Shepherd since 2011, champion Part since 2015, and Painter who failed to qualify in 2019 for the first time since 2001. John Part became the first player to win the world championship in three different venues – having won the 1994 BDO World Championship at the Lakeside, the 2003 PDC title at the Circus Tavern and in 2008 at Alexandra Palace. References External links Article on Hearn's future plans BBC London Qualifying for the 2008 World Championships Darts Database 2008 Category:2007 in darts Category:2008 in darts Category:2007 in sport in London Category:2008 in sport in London Category:December 2007 sports events in the United Kingdom Category:January 2008 sports events in the United Kingdom Category:International sports competitions in London Category:Alexandra Palace Category:Sport in the London Borough of Haringey