Mervyn King (darts player)
| Mervyn King | |
|---|---|
| File:Mervyn.jpg | |
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | The King |
| Born | |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 1979 |
| Darts | 24g Datadart Mervyn King Golden |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 1995 to 2007 |
| PDC | February 2007 to present |
| Current world ranking | 56 |
| WDF major events – best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Finalist 2002 and 2004 |
| World Masters | Winner 2004 |
| World Trophy | Finalist 2003 and 2005 |
| Int. Darts League | Winner 2005 |
| PDC premier events – best performances | |
| UK Open | Last 16 2007 |
| US Open/WSoD | QF 2007 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| Dutch Open Dutch Grand Masters | 1997 2005 |
Mervyn "The King" King (born March 15, 1966) is a professional darts player. He stunned the British Darts Organisation in February 2007 by announcing he was switching to play for the rival Professional Darts Corporation. He borrows his televised match entrance music from WWE's Triple H who is commonly referred to as the "King of Kings", the song itself by Motörhead.
World Championship performances
He made his debut in the World Professional Darts Championship in 1997, where he hit 30 180s for the whole tournament, a new record at that time. He went on to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 5-3 to Les Wallace, who won the title that year. In 1998 he went out in the second round to Ted Hankey. His only ever first round defeat came in 1999 when he lost to Andy Fordham. In 2000, he lost to Co Stompe in the last eight and he lost to the eventual champion John Walton in 2001 at the second round stage.
His most sustained run of World Championship form came between 2002 and 2004. He reached the final twice, losing 4-6 in 2002 to Australian Tony David and 3-6 to Andy Fordham in 2004. A semi-final loss in 2003 to Raymond van Barneveld was sandwiched in between.
In 2005 he lost in the second round to Andre Brantjes 3-2, and in 2006 he lost in the second round to yet another Dutchman, Jelle Klaasen, who ended up the eventual winner. His 2007 campaign ended at the semi-final stage with a defeat to Martin Adams. It was the seventh time he had been beaten by the eventual champion.
Career success
King has won several Open titles since he came onto the darts scene in 1995. However, he did have to wait until 2004 before he claimed his first Grand Slam when he won the Winmau World Masters in Bridlington, defeating Tony O'Shea 7-6.
His other major victory to date was the Dutch Grand Masters, which took place in Holland on December 11th, 2005. He defeated Martin Adams 5-4 in an exciting final.
Controversy
King has been the subject of controversy during his career. In 2003 following his semi-final defeat to van Barneveld, he subsequently blamed the air conditioning for blowing his darts off course. The following year in his 1st round against Rick Hofstra, when tied at 1-1 in sets, King complained that the length of the oche was not right; the players were forced to leave the stage whilst officials measured, King was correct. The players returned with the majority of the crowd against King, though he went on to win the match 3-1.
His switch to the PDC caused controversy during and after the 2007 World Championship. Throughout the event there was much speculation about King and his fellow stablemate players (Michael van Gerwen, Jelle Klaasen and Vincent van der Voort) that they would be switching to play for the Professional Darts Corporation. King was angry that the rumours had surfaced, having stated that he would stay with the BDO for a long time to come. He even threatened to quit the tournament as the speculation reached fever pitch. [1][2]. On the day of the BDO final, the Dutch players confirmed they be leaving but King didn't confirm his switch until February 6, 2007. Having reached the semi-final of the 2007 BDO event, King had signed a contract confirming he would play at the 2008 tournament. This opened the prospect of the BDO taking legal action against him and Jelle Klaasen, who had signed a similar three year contract as a winner of the competition in 2006.
PDC career
He made his PDC debut at a non-televised event, the Southern Regional Final of the UK Open on March 3-4, 2007. King reached the last eight before losing to Wayne Mardle. King has subsequently reached the quarter-finals of two other Regional Finals of the UK Open, assuring himself a place at the Reebok Stadium for the UK Open itself where he reached the last 16, losing narrowly 10-11 to Colin Osborne.