Shropshire Star

The Big Interview: Telford's Ted Hankey

He will be the most frustrated spectator in Frimley Green over the next eight days - but Telford's Ted Hankey insists he will be the king of the BDO again.

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Watch Ted Hankey shatter records at will winning his first BDO World Championship with a 6-0 whitewash of Ronnie Baxter in the 2000 final.

Not since 1997 has a BDO World Championship taken place with Hankey under the organisation's umbrella and not in the running, writes Craig Birch.

It's with BT Sport, who are televising the competition for the first time, rather than the stage where Hankey will reside this weekend so, at least, he's still at Lakeside.

But it's hardly a befitting set of circumstances for a two-time champion, who still holds records aplenty in the tournament's Hall of Fame, that he can't play.

This is the man who whitewashed Ronnie Baxter in the shortest-ever BDO final, with the 48 180s over the 2000 event along the way still a record.

The 22 maximums in that semi-final against Chris Mason remains the most in a BDO World Championship match, with the records for second and third coming during his 2009 title win.

He's chucked arrows that could compete at any oche on the planet, but the past three years in particular has presented obstacles that would test anybody.

'The Count' hasn't been to Lakeside since his last World Championship match in 2012, joining bitter rivals the PDC under a cloud after losing to Christian Kist in a stormy semi-final.

He came and went with 'the enemy' over a two-year spell where health problems came to the fore. A stroke - live on stage - and diabetes put whether he would even play darts again in doubt.

He returned 'home' to the BDO this year, after slowly getting his illness under some control, and gave himself six months to make it back to their flagship tournament.

He missed the boat by one ranking point, after ducking out of the last qualifying event, with some questioning whether Hankey really wanted to succeed anymore.

But the 46-year-old will furiously tell you this is not the case, that he's still a force to be reckoned with and will wait for his chance to prove it.

If it seems a sad end to one of the BDO's top stars of 'the Noughties,' he will quickly quip that it's not over yet. In fact, it's only just begun.

He said: "I am playing well and I think I have done OK up to now, I've had a good spell this year and I still believe I can be a world champion again, two or three times over.

"I am not young, I am 46 but I still think I have a good 10 years left in the game. I don't really look back at the past, it's about the future now.

"If I can get my health right and go out there and do what I reckon I am capable of, there will be major achievements ahead for me.

"I am a fighter, I have never taken any notice of what people say or think or me, it's something I am not interested in.

"I have won two world titles, what have they done? I know what I can do and no one can tell me I won't do it again.

"All I know how to do is keep battling on, it feels like I have had a devil looking up on me with some of the luck I have had, but that's life.

"Darts has been my life and I am always going to be a part of it. It's where I want to be and I still enjoy the sport as much as ever."

Hankey will freely admit it's his own fault he's been missing at both of the 'big ones' for the BDO since coming back on board in January.

In his defence, making the World Masters from an open floor in the wild-card qualifiers was always going to be a tall order.

A lottery involving hundreds of darters saw him get off the mark easy enough, shutting out David Brown 3-0, but a 3-2 defeat to Sven Groen ended his challenge before it had really started.

And it came literally days after his World Championships hopes had crashed around him, but it could have all been different had he gone to the Romanian Open.

Contractual obligations for exhibitions that weekend clashed with the year's last ranking event, but he was still in the box seat going into play.

That was until Dutchman Michel van der Horst came out of nowhere to reach the semi-finals, dumping Hankey out of the reckoning by a solitary point.

Ted Hankey hasn't made the 'big ones' in the BDO this year.

The Dutchman still has to get through the qualifying round at Lakeside tonight, too, with either him or Canadian David Cameron going on to meet Tipton's Jamie Hughes on Monday.

Hankey said: "I had six months to get to Lakeside and I missed out by one point, so I had a good go and I am confident I will get there next time.

"I didn't make it to the World Masters, either, but I had to come through the floor there and it's very difficult, everybody knows that.

"I couldn't go to Romania for the last ranking event because I had exhibition work booked that weekend, which was arranged long before I came back to the BDO.

"I had to go and do that, but we still couldn't see anybody getting enough points to knock me out. As it happened, one person went and got to the semi-finals. Who would have thought it?

"The Dutch boy had gone 3-0 down in the quarter-finals, too, with his Romanian opponent Kostas Panteldis missing darts to make it 4-0.

"Somehow he pulled it around and then it didn't matter that he had a stinker in the semi-final, his work was done.

"I couldn't believe it, but it's the way it goes and you have to take the rough with the smooth. Ultimately, I only have myself to blame, whatever the reasons were behind it."

Hankey believes the New Year will usher in a 'boom time' for the BDO, after a year of commercial growth through television interest.

Eurosport have worked with the organisation all year around, alongside the BBC's ever-present backing and now BT Sport's introduction into the World Championship.

The BDO hope constant broadcasting in 2015 will help them raise the prize pots for players, in what could be their first step towards competing as a real alternative to the PDC.

Money wasn't Hankey's motivation for coming back, more the need to be in familiar surroundings entering the 19th year of his professional darting career, 17 spent with the BDO.

Looking up - Ted Hankey believes the future is bright for both him and the BDO.

He said: "There's lots of tournaments available in the BDO and the money is getting bigger now, so there's plenty of good players coming through our ranks, too.

"We are working with the BBC, Eurosport and now BT Sport, so the television coverage is there and that, in turn, brings in more revenue.

"The BDO are pushing for more television tournaments, which will build the company up and help us be more of a rival to the PDC.

"The future of the game, for everybody involved in darts, is looking good and you have to respect and appreciate these young lads.

"I am back in the BDO, which is where I want to be. They are quite happy to have me here and I prefer it to the PDC.

"Everyone has their own opinions but, at the end of the day, nothing is good or bad about people playing darts. In my eyes, they are both equal. Things are just done differently.

"As a player, if you are comfortable in your environment, then it's going to be good for you. They are the only pluses and minuses that matter, in my opinion.

"We are just a bunch of blokes trying to earn a living wherever it suits them. Some people might prefer working in Asda than Tesco's, it's just like that!"

Hankey may have actively decided to move on from the PDC, but it was unlikely he would have been able to continue anyway.

Coming into their set up unranked presented him with the same sort of problems he's experienced this year, with three months out through illness costing him further.

It could all have been different had he been well enough to have a chance of qualifying for their World Championship in 2013, but he left their reckoning sitting 94th in the Order of Merit.

That meant he would have to attend Qualifying School last January to get another Tour Card, which he registered for and then withdrew from, after mending his bridges with the BDO.

He said: "There wasn't much point in me going to Q School, my health wasn't up to it so there wasn't any sense in me wasting my time.

"I had two years with the PDC but it didn't really click for me, even before I was ill, which cost me the chance to qualify for their World Championship.

"It could have all been different had I been able to play in that, but there's was nothing I can do. This time, my health had to come first.

"I sat at home recovering and the penny dropped when I watched the opening game of Lakeside a couple of months later.

"If I am honest, the PDC never quite felt right and I knew I was missing the BDO, so I had a word with their organisers.

"They told me I could come back, which was building block for my career and a great incentive for me to get well soon.

Smiling again - Ted Hankey feels like he's come back home after leaving the PDC to return to the BDO.

"The officials have been fantastic, there's still good people in charge and there's been no bad feelings towards me, so it's good to be back.

"But I had to get through the illness and I am a lot better than I was, it's manageable even though I am still not 100 per cent.

"As long as I keep taking the medication and go to my Doctor's appointments, I am confident I can still have a good life and career.

"People who have had strokes before will tell you it's very hard to get your life back together but it can be done, in the end.

"It's a pain, you can't eat or drink what you want anymore and you need to be watching what you are doing all of the time.

"It's the sort of concentration you have to use in darts, when everything is so precise, to take that sort of care of yourself. Before, I could do what I wanted and it didn't matter to me.

"I am enjoying doing what I am doing now, whereas before I couldn't be bothered because I wasn't feeling well. Things just weren't good for me, but it's improving all of the time."

Surreal scenes live on stage at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, who were hosting the Grand Slam of 2012, saw Hankey fall apart with the world watching.

His darts were the telling favour with two that missed the board completely in the first leg, as he repeatedly rubbed his left eye and lost his balance.

Current PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen was as confused as anyone as he whitewashed him 5-0, with Hankey recording an average of just 59.

Few could decipher what had actually happened, even the doctors initially couldn't quite put their finger on it, after initially diagnosing him with a heavy chest infection.

It was two days before they told him he had suffered a stroke, was suffering from high cholesterol. They ordered, at least, six to eight weeks immediate rest.

With wife Sarah and their three children to think about, Hankey had to do what he was told this time and took their advice.

The Civic fans were as concerned as anyone, despite a war of words with them in the event down the years that once saw him refer to them as "a bunch of muppets."

Their truce held firm held to the point he emerged to chants of 'Super Ted' and he's been missed at the Grand Slam. He returned to reach the quarter-finals in 2013, but hasn't qualified since.

He said: "It's hard to put the stroke into words, to go up there feeling ill and then have something like that happen to you. Most people thought I was drunk, but now we all know I wasn't.

"I was under the weather but I never expected what was coming. Proves I am a fighter, at least, that I still finished the game!

"It's ironic that would happen in Wolverhampton, at a great tournament and place which I think is a lot of fun. Me and the fans have certainly had some banter at the Civic!

"It's a shame I won't be at the Grand Slam next year, as I haven't gone to Lakeside, but that's another incentive for me. If I do well at a World Championship again, I will get back to the Civic."

How times change - Watch Ted Hankey fall out with the Wolverhampton Civic Hall crowd big time at the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts.

It's now 15 years since Hankey won his first world title, which came in this third outing at Lakeside and at the age of just 31.

He had been playing darts since he could pick them up as a boy in Stoke-on-Trent and his second world title would have come the following year, but for a 6-2 final defeat to John Walton.

An up-and-down ride over the next seven world championships saw him go out in the first round twice, second round once and reach the quarter-finals four times.

He said: "I remember watching the BDO World Championship when I was a nine-year-old boy from Stoke and buying a set of darts straight after.

"Watching the likes of Eric Bristow and Jocky Wilson on television got me hooked and I haven't put them down since.

"Like most people, I started playing in the pubs and clubs, then onto the BDO circuit and then up to my first World Championship in 1998.

"I got to the quarter-finals in my first year, which is where I first came across Mervyn King, and then lost to Chris Mason in the second round the next time. I got him back in 2000!

"I was living in Rhyl, up in North Wales, when I won my first world title and I moved to Telford a couple of years after. I like it in Shropshire, always have.

Winner: 2000, 2009

Runner up: 2001

Semi-final: 2012

Quarter-final: 1998, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010

Second round: 1999, 2002

"I had been in the BDO for four years when I became their champion and I always knew I would, even if it was maybe a bit quicker than I imagined.

"I always had that belief in myself, which you need in any sport, and to do it the way I did gave me more confidence than I have ever had.

"Alan Norris actually matched 48 180s at Lakeside last year but I still consider it my record, because we played over shorter sets then.

"I got to the final the next year, too, and I should have won that against John Walton, but he got the result on the day and fair play to him.

"It was always a bit up and down in the world championship after that, right up until I won my second world title, but people forget I have had three car crashes over my career, too.

"I have broken a number of bones and that has affected my performance down the years. I did well to get where I did."

Hankey's name become more synonymous with 'oche rage' during the 2008 tournament, large parts of which were spent at odds with the Lakeside crowd.

He even received a warning from the match referee during his quarter-final defeat to Simon Whitlock for punching the board, revealing afterwards he was considering quitting the game.

He said: "I hope it never happens but I could go raging again, depending on how I get up there. Everyone handles pressure in different ways.

"It's been brilliant and disastrous for me, you can either feed of it or it kills you. I have seen so many great darts players crumble when the going gets tough.

"Aggression gets me going and it's whether my opponent can block that out and concentrate on his own game. That is what he should be doing and it's not my fault if he doesn't.

"I have had my outbursts, true, and there may have been time when I went too far. I like to think I am a bit more mature now."

Hankey did redeem himself in 2009, playing his best darts since nine years previously to once again claim the World Championship.

He had been told, in no uncertain terms, by his darting friends Gary Anderson and Tony O'Shea to "get his act together" if he wanted to shine at the top level again.

O'Shea may have wished he kept those words to himself, as he was beaten 7-6 in the final, with the likes of Walton and Martin Adams also accounted for.

He had even taken no notice of first round opponent Brian Woods, who had claimed Hankey "would be lucky to get nil," letting his darts do the talking with a 3-0 whitewash.

He stood with the trophy aloft that year having redeemed himself, proving to everyone that a fit and firing Hankey was a force no one in the BDO could reckon with.

That was six years now and it took him nine to go from one to two-time world champion. Odds on another Lakeside title by 2018? He may even fancy a flutter himself.

Ted Hankey is available for darts exhibitions and speaking engagements. For more information, e-mail Will@sportstalkevents.co.uk.

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