"World Professional Darts Championship The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split in the game. Each organisation, the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) now organise their own World Championship in January. As a result, there is no longer a unified World Champion in the sport. The BDO have organised their version dating back to 1978, when it was held at the Heart of the Midlands"
"in darts before the World Championship began in 1978. When the Darts World Cup began in 1977, the Welsh team of Evans, Leighton Rees and David ""Rocky"" Jones won the Team Championship and Overall Championship. Evans was a participant at the inaugural Embassy World Championship in Nottingham in 1978. He defeated Alan Glazier before losing to eventual champion, Leighton Rees in the quarter-finals. At the 1979 World Championship, at Jollees in Stoke-on-Trent, Evans won a very fiery quarter final match against Eric Bristow, by 3–1 in sets. In the semi finals, Rees defeated Evans at the World Championship for the"
"Professional Championship. Played between 1934 and 1990 at Wembley Arena in the United Kingdom, the tournament was unofficially and usually considered the world's championship until 1967. The oldest of the three was the United States Professional Championship, usually called the U.S. Pro, played between 1927 and 1999. Between 1954 and 1962 it was played indoors in Cleveland and was called the World Professional Championships. The third major tournament was the French Professional Championship, played between 1934 and 1968, generally at Roland Garros. The British and American championships continued into the open era but devolved to the status of minor tournaments."
"of the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, FIFA Women's World Cup College Football Playoff National Championship, Stanley Cup Finals Australian Open, Premier League, Indian Premier League, Liga MX, Bundesliga, Argentine Primera División, Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, Formula One World Championship, UEFA Champions League, WNBA Finals, and to individuals such as London police officer Charlie Guenigault for his ""exceptional bravery"" during the 2017 London Bridge attack and Captain Roy Love and staff for hosting the 2017 WWE Tribute to the Troops and helping to honor the U.S. armed forces. The WWE Championship was the first world championship introduced"
"since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the early growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. The modern era began in 1969 after the BBC commissioned the snooker television show ""Pot Black"" and began to air the World Championship in 1978, leading to the sport's new peak in popularity. Ray Reardon dominated the game in the 1970s, Steve Davis in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s; Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the most world titles since 2000. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and earn millions of pounds."
"well in 1973, it was Leighton Rees who stole the show. Over a lager and a cigar he told presenter Fred Trueman, in his soon to be famous brand of dry humour, stories about himself and Evans hustling the English. Rees went on to have the most success of any darts player in The Indoor League, becoming the only player to win the darts tournament twice. After twice winning the darts tournament on The Indoor League in 1974 and 1976, Rees turned professional in 1976 and reached the final of that year's News of the World Darts Championship, losing to"
"sport. Roller-skating races were professional from an early stage. Professional World Championships were arranged in North America between the competitors on that circuit. Later, roller derby leagues appeared, a professional contact sport that originally was a form of racing. FIRS World Championships of inline speed skating go back to the 1980s, but many world champions, such as Derek Parra and Chad Hedrick, have switched to ice in order to win Olympic medals. Like roller skating, ice speed skating was also professional in North America. Oscar Mathisen, five-time ISU world champion and three-time European champion, renounced his amateur status in 1916"
"and the world's first, World Championship competition. Arranged over a season-long series of eliminating Match Races, America's Sprouts Elder was the first Championship winner. In the following European season of the same year Australian Billy Lamont took the “Championnat du Monde” in Paris, followed by fellow countryman Arthur ""Bluey"" Wilkinson the next year. But these two stars of the Dirt Track could only manage podium places behind Brit Harry Whitfield when a 'World's Championship' was staged on their home soil in 1933. Meanwhile in the UK Jack Parker had replaced Aussie Vic Huxley as the 'Individual World Champion' but after"
"both professionals and amateurs) was not inaugurated until 1930. Charles Read, British professional champion for many years, was designated the first open title holder. Would-be challengers were required to demonstrate they were capable of mounting a competent challenge as well as guaranteeing a minimum 'purse' (prize money) of £100 (which comprised gate-takings and players' 'subscriptions'). Read subsequently played the first final as the 'defending champion' against challenger Don Butcher in December 1930, but lost in home and away legs. The men's Championship maintained this 'challenge' system format until 1947, replacing it with the current 'knockout' system in 1948. The ladies'"
"held since 1933. Having regained the Ryder Cup in 1959, the United States would not relinquish it again until 1985, by which time the British team had been expanded to include the rest of Europe. In 1957, following Britain's triumph in the Ryder Cup, Rees won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, perhaps Britain's best known sports award. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1958 New Year Honours. In 1983, Rees was involved in a car crash on his way back from watching an Arsenal football match. He died several"
"such as picking up an opponent from the guard and slamming him. In 1972, Carley Gracie moved to the United States to teach and was followed in 1978 by Rorion Gracie who created the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993. Jiu-Jitsu came to international prominence in the martial arts community, when Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Royce Gracie won the first, second and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships, which at the time were single elimination martial arts tournaments. Royce fought against often much larger opponents who were practicing other styles, including boxing, shoot-fighting, muay thai, karate, wrestling, and taekwondo. It has since become"
"After the 1991 event Regal withdraw their sponsorship and began to sponsor the Welsh Open, a new ranking event at the same venue, and the event hasn't been held since then. Welsh Professional Championship The Welsh Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament which was open only for Welsh players. It was the first of the four home countries to revive its national professional championship on a regular basis. The championship was first played in the 1920s, but it was more than 50 years before Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy met, in 1977, for an 'unofficial' Welsh Professional title. Reardon"
"forward for this first professional World Open. 1976 Men's World Open Squash Championship The 1976 Lucas Industries Men's World Open Squash Championship was the inaugural men's edition of the 1976 World Open, which serves as the individual world championship for squash players. The event took place in London in England from 31 January to 7 February 1976. Geoff Hunt won his first World Open title, defeating Mohibullah Khan in the final.<br> The championship of 1976 also served as the British Open for that year. This was the inaugural World Open that doubled up as the British Open.<br>Held at Wembley a"
"Welsh Professional Championship The Welsh Professional Championship was a professional snooker tournament which was open only for Welsh players. It was the first of the four home countries to revive its national professional championship on a regular basis. The championship was first played in the 1920s, but it was more than 50 years before Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy met, in 1977, for an 'unofficial' Welsh Professional title. Reardon won that encounter 12–8. Even though the event was sponsored by William Hill it wasn't a success and wasn't held again until 1980. The Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre staged the first"
"in the 1950s. The first European Championship in the sport was held in 1961 in Stockholm, Sweden. Four additional international championships were held in Europe in the 1960s, and three more were held in the 1970s. The first World Championship was held in 1980 in Cetniewo, Poland, where competitors from eleven European and Asian countries participated. World Championships have been generally held in even-numbered years since 1984, although there was no World Championship in 1996, and there was a World Championship in 1997. Asian nations began sending national teams to international events in 1980, and teams from nations in Oceania"
"first, matched three United States regional champions against the UK champion and thus could be argued as the first international tournament, true multinational international tournaments were first held in 1975. Both authors (Orbanes and Brandreth) agree that John Mair was the first true World Champion, as decided in tournament play held in Washington, D.C. days after the conclusion of the European Championship (which Mair had also won), in November 1975. By 1982, tournaments in the United States featured a competition between tournament winners in all 50 states, competing to become the United States Champion. National tournaments were held in the"
"in the 1970s, began with promotional efforts from Wham-O and Irwin Toy (Canada), a few tournaments and professionals using Frisbee show tours to perform at universities, fairs and sporting events. Disc sports such as freestyle, double disc court, guts, disc ultimate and disc golf became this sports first events. Two sports, the team sport of disc ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semi professionally. The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association, and the Freestyle Players Association, are the official rules and sanctioning organizations for flying disc sports worldwide. Disc ultimate is"
"at the now world-famous venue to this day, renowned for its intimate atmosphere. Later that same year, he staged the inaugural UK Championship, and within a few years had founded the British Open and International Open, arranging sponsorship and TV contracts with the BBC and ITV. In 1979 he created the first World Cup, sponsored by State Express. In effect, he was involved with the creation of most of the major professional tournaments that sprung up during the 1980s, many of which still exist to this day. However, in 1983 he was told by the WPBSA that he was no"
"sports first events. Two sports, the team sport of ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semi-professionally. The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association, and the Freestyle Players Association, are the official sanctioning organizations for disc sports worldwide. Guts was invented by the Healy Brothers in the 1950s and developed at the International Frisbee Tournament (IFT) in Marquette, Michigan. Ultimate, the most widely played disc sport, began in the late 1960s with Joel Silver and Jared Kass. In the 1970s it developed as an organized sport with the creation of the Ultimate"
"New York City in 1930 to be a professional at the Racquet and Tennis Club. Etchebaster proceeded to dominate the sport. He was the world champion for a record-breaking 26 years (1928–1954) until his retirement at the age of 60. He defended the title seven times — a feat unmatched until 2006 when Robert Fahey made his seventh title defense (Fahey successfully defended his title eleven times). He was an excellent athlete who would spend hours a day on court practising his many shots, and studying the spin effects the various surfaces of the court had on the ball. In"
"the team that won Great Britain's first, and as of 2014 only, team World Championship. He also won 13 bronze and silver World championship medals between 1947 and 1955. As of 2014, Leach is just one of 11 players from any country to win two singles championships. After Leach retired in 1965, he remained active in the sport. He was England's national coach for eight years and served as president of the English Table Tennis Association for more than 20 years. He continued to write a column for ""News of the World"" for twenty years and published several books on"
"the evolution of modern boxing, with the codification of the rules of the sport known as the Queensberry Rules, named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry in 1867. Britain's first heavyweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. Some of the best contemporary British boxers included; super-middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Welshman Calzaghe's display against Jeff Lacy in 2006 prompted Lacy's trainer to state ""I have never seen a better performance than that in the world."" British professional boxing offers some of the largest"
"used for badminton. A book about the sport, ""Sticke Tennis"" by Graham Tomkinson, was published in 2004. A book ""The Rise and Fall of Sticke Tennis 1874-1939"" by Nigel Courtenay à Brassard, was published by Ronaldson Publications in 2017. Reigning World Men's Singles Champion - Howard Paul Williams (Hartham Park) Reigning World Women's Singles Champion - Shireena Perera (Shimla) Reigning World Doubles Champions - Adrian Chivers and Hugh Richman (Hartham Park) https://www.sportshistorian.co.uk Stické Stické, also called stické tennis, is an indoor racquet sport invented in the late 19th century merging aspects of real tennis, racquets and lawn tennis. It derives"
"anthology show ""World of Sport"". The first darts tournament broadcast by the BBC was the 1975 British Open. When the World Championship began in 1978, the BBC picked up the event and also went on to cover the Bullseye Darts Championship, British Gold Cup, British Professional Championship and others in later years. The mass of coverage and amount of prize money in the game led to several players turning professional - now able to make a full-time living from the game. Darts players were allowed to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes on the stage during matches, a reflection of the"
"Championships, Toronto (1972–85) and professionals using Frisbee show tours to perform at universities, fairs and sporting events. Disc sports such as freestyle, double disc court, guts, ultimate and disc golf became this sports first events. Two sports, the team sport of disc ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semi-professionally. The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association, and the Freestyle Players Association are the rules and sanctioning organizations for flying disc sports worldwide. Ultimate Canada is the rules and sanctioning organization for disc ultimate in Canada. In 2013, as a founding partner,"
"Wembley Championship. Played between 1934 and 1990, at the Wembley Arena in England, it was unofficially usually considered the world's championship until 1967. The third professional major was the French Pro Championship, played between 1934 and 1968, on the clay-courts of Roland Garros, apart from 1963–1967, when it was played on the indoor wood courts of Stade Coubertin. The U.S. Pro Tennis Championship, also known as the US Pro, was an annual tournament, later known as MFS Pro Championships. It was first organized by player Vinnie Richards when promoter C. C. Pyle withdrew interest in the project. It was first"
"in the final session. Defending champion John Spencer lost to Perrie Mans in the first round of the 1978 championship. Eddie Charlton beat Cliff Thorburn 13–12 in the quarter-finals, winning the last 5 frames, but lost to Ray Reardon in the semi-finals. Charlton led 12–9 after three sessions but Reardon won all 7 frames in the fourth session and eventually won 18–14. In the other semi-final Perrie Mans met 64-year-old Fred Davis and won 18–16. Ray Reardon won the final 25–18 to win the championship for the sixth time. At Reardon became the oldest World Champion. The first seven players"
"of a sport to sweep the awards, track and field was the first sport to do so twice. Among the most recognized for post-athletic career accomplishments are Randal Pinkett and Rob Pelinka. Of the winners the one most notable for having gone professional in his or her sport is National Football League veteran Rob Zatechka, who later went on to medical school. Several of the winners have won other notable awards. The following are complete lists of dual winners of a selected set of notable awards: The historical winners are as follows: Walter Byers Scholarship The Walter Byers Scholar (also"
"who lifted professional wrestling to new heights of popularity. When he became world champion, there were not many sports competing with wrestling for public attention. Horse racing remained a favorite sport and major league baseball was growing in popularity, but was not yet the national pastime. Automobile racing was in its infancy; golf was still the province of the wealthy; basketball had just been invented and was vying for attention; boxing offered a man a chance at fame and fortune, but was at this time riddled with scandals; the National Hockey League was formed the same year; and college football—the"
"160 countries. Swiss tennis player Roger Federer holds the record for the most awards with six. A number of awards have been rescinded, namely those presented to American cyclist Lance Armstrong, American sprinter Marion Jones and Canadian amputee sprinter Earle Connor, all of whom were subsequently found to have doped. South African businessman Johann Rupert, chairman of Richemont, proposed that an organisation be created ""based on the principle that sport can bridge the gaps in society and change the way people look at the world."" The organisation, established in 1998 by a partnership of Richemont and Daimler became known as"
"Celtics into friends, racism was still a powerful nemesis. Bob Douglas’s goal, to have his team compete professionally against white teams, still seemed out of reach. But in 1939, two mavericks decided to create the world’s first integrated professional basketball tournament. There had been other “world championships,” but what made this one closer to living up to its grandiose name was that this would be the first time both black and white teams would compete for a national title. Now the Rens would be forced to prove, once and for all, that they weren’t all talk: going up first against"
"competitions during the period. The longest recorded winning streak in any professional sports is Pakistan's Jahangir Khan's 555 consecutive wins in squash from 1981 to 1986. In 2013, the Dutch wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer retired with an active 10-year-long winning streak of 470 matches, including a streak of 250 consecutive sets won. 3 consecutive titles at FAI World Aerobatic Championships — Russia 3 consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games — Klaus Dibiasi 7 consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games — United States 11 consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games — United States 3 consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games"
"the Great Britain open team. He was World Par champion in 1961 and placed second in both the inaugural World Team Olympiad, 1960, and the inaugural World Open Pairs, 1962. He also represented Britain in the 1965 Bermuda Bowl and in five other European Championships. He won the Gold Cup, the premier British domestic competition, on eight occasions. Reese last participated in international bridge at the 1976 World Team Olympiad in Monte Carlo, where Great Britain placed third. He was Britain's non-playing captain in the 1981 European Team Championships in Birmingham, England, placing second. Thus Great Britain qualified for the"