It was back to the BICC this weekend following Lakeside and several County Opens and while several Counties have made themselves favourites for their Division, not one County is either running away at the top or being cast adrift at the bottom.

The most competitive appears to be Division 3, where Norfolk aided by the Ladies top average of 24.78 by Amanda Mallett are still only eight points clear of the fifth placed team, while at the other end only seven points separate the bottom five. It was Gloustershire’s James Hurrell who topped the division’s men with an impressive 33.38 single dart average.

It was another lady from a table topping team who picked up the top average in Division 4 – Leicestershire’s Caroline Newbury with a 21.25, while Gwynedd Open Champion Robbie ‘Kong’ Green continued his recent good form to top the men with an outstanding 34.16.

In Scotland North, East Stirlingshire and Fife lead the division and also topped the monthly individual high averages. Craig Baxter and Alan Small both hit 29.47, while Small’s Fife team mate Stephanie Gilmour hit a 26.37 in the Ladies. However it is Grampian, with a game in hand, who are just favourites for the title at the moment.

Scotland South saw East Renfrewshire top the table, but it is so tight that only 8 points separate the top four teams. Another Lakeside player, West Ayrshire’s Andy Boulton topped the mens averages with 30.12, while East Renfrewshire’s Scottish International Susanna Young won with a 21.59 to take the ladies average.

South of the Border it’s a battle of the Roses at the top of the Premier Division as Yorkshire head Lancashire by 4 points. At the bottom, Kent and Cambridgeshire have some work to do if they are going to stay in the Division.

Oxfordshire’s Deta Hedman had the weekend’s top female average with an outstanding 30.06 as she beat fellow England International Lorraine Farlam. In the men’s it was Glamorgan ‘B’s’ Tim Jones with 32.05 who was the leader.

In Division 1, Cornwall are a comfortable 12 points clear at the top, but just 7 points separate the next 5. At the bottom, Bedfordshire have a lot of work to do if they are going to escape the drop, but above them it is any one from three and they all play each other in the last three fixtures of the season.

Surrey ‘B’s’ Jason Kelly had a 30.40 to top the men while Co Durham’s Kirsty Hutchinson had a 26.37 to top the ladies.

Division 2 is very competitive, with Nottinghamshire top the division by just one point from Lincolnshire. Chasing them are Staffordshire and Hertfordshire.

At the bottom, Middlesex and Worcestershire are level on points, but they are only 9 points behind Suffolk who sit in 5th place.

Hertfordshire’s Jodie Alligan with 24.17 picked up the top ladies average, but pride of place goes to Worcestershire’s Tony Randell, who had the weekend’s top average of a truly outstanding 36.66 single dart average.

Click BICC on home page for full results.

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Mens Results		Country		Womens Results		Country
1.	Howard Meyers	USA		1.	Cindy Pardy	CANADA
2.	Timmy Bagley	USA		2.	Pennie Lewis	ENGLAND
3.	Scotty Burnett	USA		3.	Sandy Hudson	USA
3.	Gordon Dixon	USA		3.	Pam Briggs	USA
5.	Chris White	USA		5.	Andrea Taylor	USA
5.	Steve Brown	USA		5.	Paula Murphy	USA
5.	Mick Cookman	ENGLAND		5.	Shea Reynolds	USA
5.	Jerry Hilbourn	USA		5.	Tina Proctor	USA
9.	Johnny Kuczynski	USA		9.	Kumiko Nagasawa	JAPAN
9.	Ray Carver	USA		9.	Cali West	USA
9.	Scott Wollaston	USA		9.	Suzy Q Lawson	USA
9.	Bob Sinnaeve	CANADA		9.	Amy Moore	USA
9.	Morihiro Hashimoto	JAPAN		9.	Amanda Burrow	CANADA
9.	Vegar Elevoll	NORWAY		9.	Terra Poplstein	USA
9.	Ken Swanson	USA		9.	Lisa Yee	USA
9.	Steve Hogan	USA		9.	Pam Amici	USA

Anastasia Dobromyslova won her first Lakeside Women’s World Championship title in 2008 and on her return in 2012 re-claimed her crown in typical high scoring style with a stunning 90 checkout completed with a perfect bullseye!

She did so in an absorbing and competitive 46 minute final against No.1 Seed Deta Hedman who was seeking the one major title she has never won. The final score was 2-1 to Ana and completed an impressive Championship in which she beat Julie Gore of Wales 2-0 in the Quarter-Finals and England’s Trina Gulliver by the same score-line in the Semi-Finals.

When she made her debut in the 2007 Lakeside Women’s World Championship she became the first Russian darts player ever to grace the famous Lakeside stage. She reached the Semi-Finals that year and subsequently lost to reigning Champion Trina Gulliver. But her defining moment was to come in 2008, when she ended the 7-year reign of England’s ‘Golden Girl’ with a famous 2-0 victory to become World Champion.

Anastasia was born on September 26th, 1984 in the Russian town of Tver. It lies mid-way between Moscow and St.Petersburg and she started to play darts at the age of twelve – ultimately winning the Russian National Championship a total of ten times.

She won the Girls’ Winmau World Masters in 2001, and followed up with the WDF Europe Youth Cup singles title in 2001 and 2002.

Anastasia had arrived!

However, she didn’t make her professional debut in a major until the 2004 Bavaria World Darts Trophy, where she beat Trina Gulliver in the Quarter-Final with an outstanding 3-dart average of 90. After beating Mieke de Boer in the Semi-Final she eventually lost to Francis Hoenselaar in the final.

In 2007, she won the BDO British Open, amongst several other singles titles across Europe, and in October that year represented Russia in the 2007 WDF World Cup in The Netherlands – winning the Women’s Pairs title with Irina Armstrong.

She received an invitation to play in the 2008 Grand Slam of Darts as BDO Women’s World Champion and became the first female darts player to compete in the Grand Slam.

In the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts, she registered another darts ‘first’ when she defeated Vincent van der Voort 5-4. It was her first ever win against a man on television, and made her only the second woman to beat a male professional darts player in a major televised darts competition – the first being Deta Hedman’s defeats of Aaron Turner and Norman Fletcher in the 2005 UK Open.

Since returning to BDO darts she has enjoyed tremendous success, and in 2011 alone has won the BDO International Open, the Mariflex Open, the England Masters, the Top of Ghent and the Latvia Open. She was also runner-up in the 2011 Antwerp Open and Northern Ireland Open and a Semi-Finalist in the 2011 Isle-of-Man Open, BDO British Open, 2011 Center Parcs Masters and 2011 Zuiderduin Masters. She was a Quarter-Finalist in both the 2011 Scottish Open and Belgium Open.

Although it is not widely known in the UK, Anastasia is also an outstanding soft-tip darts player. Indeed, she is the current International Darts Federation (IDF) European Singles Champion (a title which she won in Benidorm). Her prestigious titles also include the IDF World Cup Cricket Singles and Mixed Pairs, and she was runner-up in the IDF 501 Singles – all of which were played and televised in Shanghai to a large and enthusiastic Chinese audience.

She is happily married to darts player Tony Martin and they live is Ellesmere Port.
Her full name is Anastasia Petrovna Dobromyslova, but she is more than happy to be known simply as Anastasia.

Having now won the Lakeside Women’s World Professional title in 2008 and 2012, can she return to Lakeside in 2013 and make it a memorable hat-trick of titles?

We are only a few days away from the start of the Dutch Open Darts 2012. More than 3500 darts players entered this year’s tournament to play in the singles and/or pairs.
Just like the past years your players card will not be sent to you by post, but you have to pick it up yourself at NH Conference Centre Koningshof. How to do that is to be read in this information.
Without your card you are not allowed to participate, so read all information carefully!

The tournament will start on Friday February 3rd, half an hour earlier than planned at 12.00 hrs with the pairs tournament where 983 Men pairs and 117 Ladies pairs will participate. All matches including the finals will be played. The expected time of the final is 19:00 hrs.

On Saturday February 4th at 11:30 hrs. both the men and ladies single tournament will be played. The last rounds will be played on Sunday. 128 (men) and the last 16 (ladies) will advance to the day of the finals. The last matches will approximately end around 19:00 hrs.

On Sunday February 5th from 10:00 hours on the single tournaments will continue. Also the Dutch Open Youth will take place, the tournament starts also at 10:00 hrs. It is still possible to enter, registration is open until 09:45 hrs. at the venue. From 14:00 hours on, the stage programme will be played. These games will be led by Master of Ceremonies Jacques Nieuwlaat, and called by professional callers. Finals are to be followed in the hall on big screens and via live stream on www.dutchopendarts.nl. Eurosport 2 will broadcast all the highlights from the stage finals on Sunday, February 5th starting at 23.00 CET. These highlights will be repeated on Eurosport 1 on Monday, February 6th at 15.00 CET

PLAYERS CARD
All non-Dutch players who have not paid their registration yet, need to pay and collect their players card at the desk during the Dutch Open. The contact person alone is responsible for the total payment of his/her entries. Entered players on this confirmation can’t pay individually! The contact person needs to print out the confirmation and bring this to the desk. Players’ cards can only be picked up with an ID (driver’s license / passport).

Non-Dutch players who are in the hotel on Thursday February 2nd can pay and collect their players cards at the head reception of NH Koningshof between 16:00 – 18:00 hrs.

Otherwise non-Dutch players can pay and pick up their card on Friday February 3rd between 09:00 and 11:30 hours at the players entry. Signs will show you where to go.
Non-Dutch who only compete in the single’ tournament can pay and pick up their card on Saturday February 4th between 09:00 and 10:30 at the players entry. Signs will show you where to go.

WARNING:
BE ON TIME! ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO PICK UP YOUR CARD. MAKE SURE YOU’LL BE THERE IN TIME. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE NDB WILL MAKE SURE THERE ARE PLENTY OF VOLUNTEERS TO HELP, IT WILL BE VERY CROWDED. MAKE SURE YOU’LL HAVE YOUR CARD WAY BEFORE THE TIME YOU HAVE TO PLAY YOUR GAME.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR CARD AT THE TIME YOU ARE DUE TO REPORT AT THE MATCH TABLE, IT MEANS YOU’LL BE DISQUALIFIED. THE NDB IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU BEING NOT ON TIME, ALL PARTICIPANTS HAVE TO MAKE SURE FOR THEMSELVES THEY DO HAVE THEIR CARD ON TIME!!!

DRAW
The draw will be online on Monday January 30th. Look at the draw to see who you have to play on www.dutchopendarts.nl

SPECIAL GUESTS
Darts legend Bobby George and Shaun Greatbatch are special guests during the event. Everyone has a chance to play a leg against Bobby George on the big stage.
All money we collect with this action will go to KiKa, a foundation for children with cancer.

PRIZE MONEY
Like last years the NDB will only pay prizes up to a maximum amount of € 250,00 cash. This means prizes larger than € 250,00 will be paid by bank. The reason for this is the degree of importance the NDB assigns to the aspect of security. When you don’t have a Dutch bank account, please make sure you have your BIC code and IBAN number and of course your ID with you. Find more about the prize money on the Dutch Open website: www.dutchopendarts.nl.

Everybody is welcome in Veldhoven to enjoy the Dutch Open games. Entrance tickets can be bought at the venue and have the following prices:

Friday € 5,00
Saturday € 6,50
Sunday € 7,50
Passe Partout € 12,50

“Christian Kist, the man who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia-entry.”

These were the words BBC presenter Colin Murray used to introduce debutant Christian Kist to millions of TV viewers before his first round match against Jan Dekker at the 2012 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships.

But one week later everyone knew the name of the 25 year-old from Vroomshoop in The Netherlands as he became the 21st BDO World Professional Darts Champion and the third Dutchman to collect the greatest title in World Darts.

Remarkably he was ranked 74th in the world when he stepped on the Lakeside oche and had to earn the right to be there by winning the International Play-Offs only a couple of months earlier!

That opening round with fellow countryman Jan Dekker produced the highest averages of the week, with Dekker recording 32.11 and Kist heading the Lakeside 2012 averages with a single darts average of 32.59 (his averages in every round topping 30 per dart).

He also hit more 180’s than any other player – 33 in total – and his epic final against Tony O’Shea established him as the new star of Dutch darts.

Christian Kist was born on April 21st, 1986 in Mariënberg, a village in the eastern province of Overijssel in The Netherlands.

Today he lives in Vroomshoop, only eight kilometres away from his birthplace, and it was there that his love of darts began when he was just 12 years of age. Shortly afterwards, when Raymond van Barneveld became the first ever Dutchman to win the famous title in 1998, Christian entered his local pub, Café Kremer, and it was immediately clear that he already had a great talent.

Following his performance in qualifying for Lakeside and then reaching the Last 16 in the 2011 Winmau World Masters, many inside Dutch darts expected Christian to do well at Lakeside – and so did many of the British darts stars who watched him play in Hull.

Before the event, 2006 Lakeside Champion Jelle Klaasen predicted that it would be worth putting some money on the road worker to win the title (his opening odds were 66-1) but for everyone else, Kist’s Lakeside victory came from nowhere.

Although Holland was represented by eight players at Frimley Green, Kist – a massive supporter of Ajax FC – was maybe the least known of them all. Not that hard to believe because he hadn’t played that much in front of the TV cameras.

His only appearance before British TV viewers came on ESPN in the autumn of 2011. After a victory over fellow Dutchman Jan Dekker – the 2011 Lakeside Semi-Finalist – he reached the last 16 of the Winmau World Masters in September before being beaten by Tony West for a place in the Quarter-Finals.

Three months later he received a wildcard for the Zuiderduin Masters, but in front of the Dutch crowd he was eliminated in the group stage, losing to title holder Ross Montgomery and Fabian Roosenbrand.

However, earlier on the European tour Kist proved his talent by reaching the final of the Swiss and Luxemburg Opens, but lost to Paul Jennings and his close friend Alan Norris, the man who drove him to Lakeside in January 2012, and who he subsequently beat 5-1 in the Quarter-Finals.

In April 2011 he won the Spring Cup (an event for players from the European mainland only) in Belgium. In the final he overcame 2004 and 2005 Lakeside competitor Rick Hofstra and eliminated Jan Dekker in the Semi-Final.

Dekker was the player Christian beat on his way to Lakeside glory. Kist met ‘Double Dekker’ in the First Round at Lakeside and it produced a match described as the most outstanding of Lakeside 2012 – certainly in terms of scoring power!

However, it wasn’t just the Kist darts that made him a star in Holland, it was also some of his TV interviews! Without the ability to speak or understand English this led to some funny TV moments as he struggled with his English. Conversely, it also turned out to be an advantage to him.

He told leading website Dartfreakz.nl that it was because of his inability to communicate that he maintained his focus all week – bringing him victories over Jan Dekker, Geert de Vos, Alan Norris, Ted Hankey and Tony O’Shea on his way to the Lakeside title.

In his Semi-Final against Hankey he was 5-3 down and survived a match dart from a two-times World Champion who had never previously lost a Semi-Final at Lakeside.

Kist was nicknamed ‘Lipstick’ by darts legend Bobby George for three reasons: He’s a great scorer in the treble-20 bed (known as the lipstick), his habit of opening his mouth each time he throws, and because his name sounds like ‘Kissed’.

But nicknames apart, he was always supremely confident at Lakeside. He believed that he could win and so did girlfriend Kirsten:

“I know him and he never gives up”, she said.

“Amazing, unbelievable”, Christian told Dutch channel RTV Oost shortly after becoming the world champion. They had flown over especially to follow his triumph, as did Aldermen from his Municipality.

Over the whole Championship Christian Kist threw a 3-dart average of 94.1 – just half a point less than PDC Champion Adrian Lewis.

His road to the final: First Round v Jan Dekker 3-2; Second Round v Geert de Vos 4-2; Quarter Finals v Alan Norris 5-1; Semi-Final v Ted Hankey 6-5 and the Final v Tony O’Shea 7-5.

It was a great achievement and the following day after lifting the famous trophy he was honoured in his hometown of Vroomshoop, where 1500 people attended the celebrations.

On the first Saturday after the final he played in the Superleague (Dutch Premier League) as usual. His local pub, Café Kremer, and everyone in it went absolutely crazy when Kist threw the final double 16 against O’Shea to lift the title.

He remains modest and avoids the spotlight. He is just an ordinary man who loves his darts and it will take some time for him to realise that he is Champion of the World!

BBC commentator Vassos Alexander summed it up when he said:

“The world of darts has a new superstar. He’s 25. He’s bald. He’s Dutch and he’s called Christian Kist.”

And to return to Colin Murray’s opening introduction – before Lakeside Christian Kist was not on Wikipedia, but he is now!

Such is the power of winning the BDO’s Lakeside World title.

Rahied Ishaak/Dartfreakz.nl