Hankey’s the toast of darts world

Ted Hankey roars his delight after nailing a double on his way to claiming the title

Shropshire’s super Ted Hankey is the toast of Telford – and all on planet darts – after winning his second world title in an epic contest with Tony ‘Silverback’ O’Shea. The Count held off the resilient O’Shea, winning 7-6 to get his hands on the coveted trophy. 

Hankey, from Aqueduct, joins the elite band of players who have been multiple Lakeside BDO world champion, having first won it when thrashing Ronnie Baxter 6-0 in 2000. 

He recorded 15 maximum 180s in the match – taking his tournament tally to 42 – just a handful short of his record set when winning that first title.

The 40-year-old had threatened to run away with it when opening up a three-sets-to-one lead, but O’Shea refused to go away. 

He failed to check out 62 to win it in the 11th set, then missed six darts at doubles in the 12th, the Stockport star capitalising both times to prolong the tension. 

The deciding set had to be won by two clear legs and Hankey put himself in pole position to do just that when breaking his opponent’s throw to go 2-1 up. 

This time he was able to hold his own throw, missing double top but then checking out on double10 at the second time of asking. 

“I was always there to nick doubles he missed,” said O’Shea. “But he was scoring that well that I thought he was not going to keep missing. 

“He deserved it because he played really well in that last set. I was a bit tired near the end and I think I’m carrying one or two pounds too much. 

“I just hope people enjoyed it because, as professional darts players, our job is to entertain people – not just to try and win loads of money.” 

No 9 seed O’Shea looked the sharper of the two players early on, and won the first set before Hankey, who was visibly irritated by shouts from the crowd and the click of the photographers’ cameras, got into his groove. 

The No 7 seed got going in the second to level the scores and produced his best darts of the night in the third – checkouts of 123 and 100 the highlights as he moved ahead for the first time. 

Another big checkout – 111 this time – featured in a rapid fourth set which he won by three legs to nil and, at 3-1 in front, he looked destined to run away with it. 

O’Shea dug deep though, managing to keep the deficit to 4-2 at the break then upping his game in the second session with some high quality doubles under pressure. 

They went tit-for-tat from there but the real drama was reserved for the final three sets, which Hankey had entered leading 6-4. 

He needed just one more and had chances but O’Shea capitalised on his rival’s misses to level the scores and take the final all the way. 

The Count refused to buckle though, and produced another set of high quality when he needed it most to secure the title.

By Chris Hudson

Ted Hankey becomes only the sixth multiple winner of the BDO title – joining an illustrious list made up of some of the greatest players of all time. 

Stars who have won the crown more than once are:  John Lowe (1979/87/93), Eric Bristow (1980/81/84/85/86), Jocky Wilson (1982/89), Phil Taylor (1990/92) and Raymond van Barneveld (1998/99/2003/05). 

A seventh player – John Part – won the BDO title in 1994 and can also claim to be a multiple winner, having claimed the rival PDC crown twice.