KEITH DELLER has hit out at World Seniors Darts after he was left out of the World Championship.
This year’s tournament is taking place at Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex.
Keith Deller was left out of the World Championship by World Senior Darts[/caption]
It is the first time the tournament has happened since the tour’s entry age was lowered from 50 to 45.
As a result, some legendary darts throwers have been pushed out of the running.
Deller, 65, won the BDO world championship in 1983 and was one of the first to star in the World Seniors events.
However, he feels as if he has been overlooked as Vincent van der Voort was forced to withdraw due to medical reasons.
Neil Duff has received a bye into the last 16 of the tournament.
The WSD has insisted that a replacement could not have been brought in as the tournament had already begun.
It was suggested that Deller could have stepped in on social media.
He insisted that his phone was on if he had been wanted.
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He posted: “Not asked. Could have called me yesterday as it was evening tonight.
“One of the originals who got this off the ground and a former world champion.
Tony O’Shea is not overly keen on the new rules[/caption]
Ace Tony O’Shea, 63, has taken issue with the tour’s new entry rules.
After beating Lisa Ashton he told Online Darts: “I think it’s just Martin Adams [who is 68] who is older than me in the field. It’s harder.
“They’ve changed the rules to get more younger players in. 45, for me, is not really a senior.
“Maybe they’ll bring in a ‘super seniors’ for us 60-plus. It might be a level playing field.”
Deller agreed with O’Shea, he wrote: “Tony 100 per cent right may be they will change it with the word seniors not in it.
“If they want 45 and over in to get younger players then fine but may be just change it to something like champions tour.”
O’Shea did continue on his point and admitted that the younger players have added some quality to the tour.
He said: “But some of the lads who’ve come in, it’s great for the seniors tour, it’s great for these games.
“They’re still good enough to win [PDC] ProTour events.
“It’s great to see such great players in the event. The World Seniors is only going to get stronger and stronger.”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
