Hankey haunts Shropshire

Hankey signed for Humberside in the summer, and they take on Shropshire in a BDO inter-counties championship division four clash at the Anstice Memorial Club in Madeley on Saturday and Sunday.

"There is a Ted Hankey on the team list we have had from Humberside so there is every chance he will be playing," said Royston Minton, chairman of Shropshire darts.

Hankey, who played for Shropshire between 2003 and 2005, won his second BDO World Championship at Frimley Green in January when he beat Tony O'Shea 7-6 in a thrilling final.

And he has learned over the weekend that fellow Englishman Gary Robson will be his first round opponent when he begins the defence of his world title in the new year.

• Shropshire's committee are also set to use the weekend to formulate their response to a potential £1m takeover of the BDO by the Professional Darts Corporation.

Barry Hearn, chairman of the PDC, has offered to buy the BDO for that figure and also invest a further £1m into the grass roots of the game.

That offer was rejected by BDO founder Olly Croft as a "cheap publicity stunt".

But Hearn has questioned Croft's authority and claimed as a director of the BDO he must put the offer to the organisation's shareholders - the 66 county darts organisations which make up its membership.

By JAMES GARRISON