The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsFor many fans of the ‘arras’, Lakeside will always be the home of world darts and over the years we have seen many a great match that shows us why we love this game so much.
Icon’s of the game from Phil Taylor, Martin Adams to Jocky Wilson and Eric Bristow, they have all entertained on that stage and here at The Sports Lowdown we take a look at five of the greatest BDO finals in our opinion.
We all know that many will have a certain reason for liking one above another so please follow us on Twitter @TheSportLowdown and let us know which is your favourite even if it is not on our list.
5. Raymond van Barneveld 6-5 Richie Burnett – 1998 BDO World Final
Raymond van Barneveld has gone on to become a legend in the sport and is still seen as the standard bearer for darts in the Netherlands and paved the way for newcomers such as Michael van Gerwen to come along.
Having been in the BDO for five previous Lakeside World Championships, the Dutchman was after revenge against one of his greatest opponents in Richie Burnett who had pipped him in the final in 1995.
Burnett had come through a tough set of matches including wins over Kevin Painter and Roland Scholten to reach the final despite being unseeded as his talent once again shone through. Barneveld had seen off former world champion Steve Beaton in the quarter-finals, before beating Colin Monk in the semis.
The final itself was up and down for both players with Barneveld expected to come out on top with his number one seeding showing throughout the whole tournament. Burnett was not about to hand over the top prize and it took a final set tie-break for the Dutchman to go on to win his first of what would eventually become five world title crowns.
Take a look at the action below in a classic contest.
