Shropshire Star

Ted Hankey stuns Scott Waites to reach last eight

Ted Hankey has set his sights on a third BDO World Championship after stunning No 2 seed Scott Waites to book a quarter-final spot.

Published

Ted Hankey has set his sights on a third BDO World Championship after stunning No 2 seed Scott Waites to book a quarter-final spot.

Shropshire darter Hankey, who lives in Telford, recovered from 2-0 and 3-2 down to win 4-3 at Lakeside last night.

And the 43-year-old, seeded No 15 this year after winning the title in 2009, now believes he is in the form to lift the trophy again.

He said: "I have won it twice so I know how to win it. Hopefully I can make it three."

Hankey – nicknamed the Count –had to dig deep, eventually seeing off the much-fancied Waites with a 144 checkout in the deciding set.

And Hankey put a lot of the credit for his success down to his plan of speeding up his naturally slow pace.

He said: "I just did what I had to do. I knew I was going too slow at times – I actually made a plan to play fast and, when I did that ,I hit five or six 180s.

"Then Scott started slowing me down - I can't believe someone has actually been slowing me down - and then, at 3-2, I just thought 'let them go.'

"Scott is a naturally fast thrower and I practised with another fast thrower – Dutchman Willie van de Wiel – so that I was ready."

Defeated Waites declared: "I could have won 4-0 if I had hit my doubles. I lost the match for myself, although Ted did play well at the back end of the game."

Last year's beaten finalist Dean Winstanley was also the victim of an upset, as he twice blew a two-set lead to crash 4-3 to Scotland's Alan Norris. Norris trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before fighting back to win.

Willy van de Wiel, the 10th seed, fell 4-2 to Martin Atkins, who looked to have blown a 3-0 lead before finally repelling his opponent's brave comeback and sealing his win with double tops.

But there was better news for Holland in young debutant Christian Kist, who followed up his shock first round win over Jan Dekker with an impressive 4-2 success over Geert de Vos, booking his place in the last eight.