Simon Whitlock defeated Raymond van Barneveld once again, this time narrowly trouncing him 8-6 in the Whyte & Mackay Premier League in Sheffield.

The pair met each other at the world championship semi-finals in Alexandra Palace, where Whitlock aced Barney in a 6-5 showdown.

The Australian was at a clinical form during his bout, as he sped forward with a 6-1 lead in early game, missing just one double out of nine attempts.

He came one step away from victory at 7-3, before Barney fought back in the next few legs to force a decider, after winning two legs. Whitlock managed to prevent his opponent from making a draw with a 68 checkout to victory.

The win allows Whitlock to join Mervyn King and Ronnie Baxter in second place, as Adrian Lewis and James Wade struggle for slots in the play-off. Meanwhile, van Barneveld's narrow loss has left him languishing at the bottom of the pile.

“I was probably a bit lucky to get the win in the end, but it’s a great result for me”, said Whitlock. “When I was 6-1 up I started thinking that an 8-1 win would be fantastic but Raymond doesn’t lie down. He always plays well against me and he came back brilliantly. He nearly pinched a draw but I held on. I’m playing one week at a time and trying to win each game, but to be joint second is a good position to be in and after this I can see boat race with my son as I promised him.”

OTHER INFO:  David has the distinction of being the only Australian player to have been champion in a senior singles World Championship title. David’s career in darts began when he started playing darts at age twenty-five with family at Dubai hotel during waiting for checking out. In 1995, David joined the Queensland state team where he began to compete seriously.

Four years later, David earned a spot on the Australian WDF World Cup team for the first time and has gone on to win many prestigious titles and awards despite having suffered terrible health problems over the course of his career. Tony suffers from haemophilia, which not only requires constant medication, but also has indirectly limited his performance in professional darts as he is unable to pull his arm back as far as other competitors, which seriously affects his throw, making David’s rise to prominence as a darts player even more impressive.

Most recently, David was sent to the hospital on 21st February 2009 with liver failure. Although he had been on the liver transplant list for over a year, David’s progress was stalled by his Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, both of which he contracted many years ago, as did many people with his condition prior to advances in blood screening practices in Australia.

Though the conditions caused complications, David’s emergency liver transplant was successful as a matching donor liver became available suddenly; this initiated the emergency transplant surgery.

NAME:  Tony David

NICKNAME: The Deadly Boomerang

DATE OF BIRTH:  11th September 1967

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Townsville, Queensland, Australia

RESIDES:  Townsville, Queensland, Australia

MARITAL STATUS: unknown

SPONSORS:  None, currently as he is recovering from emergency surgery.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION:  David has been playing for the British Darts Organization since 1999.

TYPE OF DARTS USED:  23g Formula Sports Tony David

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: Though David has many interests outside of darts, the vast majority of his free time has been consumed with his ongoing battle against haemophilia, which caused him to have a liver transplant that has kept him in recovery for many months. As a result of his transplant, David will be able to continue his career and personal life without the hindrance of this condition.

TITLES:  In his illustrious career, David has won several tournaments, including a World Championship win in 2002 and a World Darts Trophy tournament win in 2002. David also finished as a finalist in the International Darts League tournament in 2004 and was a semi-finalist at the World Masters in 2004.

In addition to these prestigious titles, David has also been crowned champion at the Doeland Grand Masters in 2002; the Australian Masters in 1996, 2000 and 2001; the Coolbellup Open in 2004; the Central Coast Classic in 2006 and the New Zealand Open in 2006. David also won the Pacific Masters; the French Open; the Coronation Open and the Queensland Zone 7 Open; these being all in 2003, makes that year his most successful to date.

A dramatic showdown between Phil Taylor and James Wade ended in a draw, showing the Power resolutely holding on to his unblemished track record in the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts.

Taylor brought the match to a deciding leg after a 7-4 lead by Wade, who appeared ready to become the first player this season to shake the Power from his undefeated status.

Wade enjoyed a strong start with a 2-0 lead, before landing a maximum in the third leg. Taylor pushed forward from zero with an 81 finish, followed by a double 12 that allowed him to level.

Wade led 4-2, taking the next two legs to the moon, before jumping three legs ahead of The Power, after three maximums and double five.

The duo got two legs each at the next four, bringing Wade to the brink of victory at 7-4.

With his opponent nearly assured of a win, Taylor landed double six in the next leg, before hitting a double four in the succeeding legs, to force a decider.

It was at this point that Taylor unleashed a 171 score to grab the draw, before the defending champion could check out at 145.

“The 171 was a massive shot and I’m delighted in many ways to have got a point out of this game”, said Taylor. “James has got loads of guts and it’s great to see him playing well again. He played superbly tonight and it was a really difficult game for me. I think he maybe started thinking about the win at the end.

“I’m finally through at the fourth time of asking and it’s a big relief,” said the Middlesborough player, who has won £8,700 so far in the event. “I started off pretty well today, I was solid and got the points on the board early on and it was good just to get into the semi-finals. I played solidly against Wayne and also against Jelle in the final and I finished well.”

Osborne added, “I lost in the final on Wednesday and had to pick myself up again, but you can’t complain because you’re playing darts and have to get on with it. These are long days and it’s tough, but I’ve won one and it’s great. I get to rest now and just come back for the winners’ group!”

Joining him is debutante, Jones, who won five league matches to land a position in the winners’ group. Meanwhile, recent stanjames.com World Match play finalist, Terry Jenkins, lost his bid for fourth place by losing 6-1 and 6-0 to Adrian Lewis.

A semi-finals victory by Klaasen, however, ruined Lewis' chances of qualifying despite Lewis' early lead of 5-3. Denis Ovens and Mark Dudbridge bid farewell to the tournament after achieving just one victory on Tuesday, while Jenkins and Andy Smith will return for Group Seven on the 20th October.

Colin Osborne emerged as the Group Six winner of Championship League Darts, punishing opponent, Jelle Klaasen, in a 6-3 bout. He achieved victory after having tirelessly competed for the last three days in the live-streamed tournament. This enabled Osbourne to secure a spot in the winners’ group, which meets again in October.

The league phase witnessed Osborne on a winning streak with four straight wins, ending the day in overall second behind Klaasen and Wayne Jones, both of who were just one victory ahead having won five matches each. He then removed Jones from the competition with a 6-4 win and proceeded to corner first-timer, Klaasen, in the decider.

The 34-year-old ‘Wizard’ lost no time and immediately got down to business by distancing himself from Klaasen being up three legs to zero, one of which was the result of a 110 finish against the throw. However, Klaasen, refusing to back down, quickly countered with 134 and 130 finishes that brought him back into contention. Determined for a win, Osborne held his opponent at bay in the succeeding two legs by unleashing a double top and a 124 finish on the bull. Holding his own, Klaasen earned a third leg victory after a 96 finish, but Osborne landed a double five to win his sixth leg and a spot in the winners’ group in October.

And the Australia Open Players Championship goes to...

In what turned out to be a washout in the finals, Paul Nicholson exercised his superior skills over Robert Thornton in a 6-1 display, proving his worth and become one important factor for all other contestants to consider if they want to win the championship.

The encounter took place Sunday at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney, where Nicholson started his championship bid with by a slaughter of Steve Nichols and Daniel Sim.

After defeating Jerry Weyman 6-3 in the last 16, he went on to prevail against Craig Prizeman in the quarter-finals with an impressive 6-3. Mark Walsh fell to him in the deciding leg of the last four stage, resulting in his encounter with Thornton.

Despite his loss, Thornton still proved to be in top form, hitting his way past players Bill Keogh, Don Whittington, Philip Hazel, as well as Brian Roach and Simon Whitlock in order to reach the finals.

Meanwhile, Whitlock himself displayed finesse and skill by reaching the semi-finals after outdoing fellow Queenslander Shane Tichowitsch, who himself had edged out PDC player Denis Ovens in the last thirty-two.

Walsh stormed past New Zealand duo Preston Ridd and Warren Parry, only to stumble out of the game in a narrow loss during the semi-finals.

On the other hand, 2009 stanjames.com World Matchplay finalist Terry Jenkins experienced a disappointment early in the tournament after losing to former Oceanic Masters winner Barry Jouannet.

NAME: Alan Warriner Little

Nickname: The Iceman

Date of birth:            24th March 1962

Place of birth: Lancaster, Lancashire, England

Resides: Crosby, Cumbria, England

Height: 5’9”

Marital Status: Married

Sponsors: Unicorn

Professional Organisation: BDO until 2004 and PDC from 2005 to present

Type of Darts Used: 22g Data-dart

Hobbies and Interests: Little states that he enjoys working as a commentator for a boat race and hosting various shows. He is also into music and his favourite song is “Cold as Ice” by Foreigner.

Titles: Little won the German Open in 1998 and the Isle Of Man Open 1986. He also holds the titles for the 2000 Jersey Festival of Darts; the 1997 PDC Scottish Masters and the 1995 PDC UK Match-Play.

Other Info: Little is a left-handed player and is currently ranked No. 11 with a former PDC World ranking at No. 1.

Alan Warriner-Little is a very powerful darts player who has played in both BDO as well as PDC leagues. He has been seeded as PDC world No. 1 four times, January 1993 to November 1994 initially and then February 1997 to August 1998, followed by October 2001 to January 2002 and January 2002 to May 2002 in quick succession.

Having started with the BDO, Alan left in 1993 and helped form the WDC, which was then converted to PDC.

Little is a legend in the PDC World Championship as he has qualified for the quarter-finals on six occasions in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2004 as well as 2006.

OTHER INFO: James, a professional darts player who hails from Wales has not had a very illustrious career and has long retired from the game. He is a less known darts player and perhaps his only claims to fame as far as the game of darts is concerned include his being the runner-up in the British Darts Organisation World Championship of 1997 and his only significant title is the 1997 Welsh Open in his own country (additionally he has been a finalist in the year 1991 and quarter finalist in the year 1992).

In the BDO World Championship of 1997, the run began with a first round 3-1 victory over William Burksfield. Then James went on to take on Andy Fordham, who went on to be world champion in the future and who defeated him in the second round by three sets to one. Marshall then moved on to the finals with some important wins over the American, Roger Carter, and defending champion, Steve Beaton. Unfortunately, however, he could not sustain this winning streak for long and lost the finals to Englishman Les Wallace (popularly nicknamed as McDanger) by 6-3.

Only two more appearances of his were witnessed at Lakeside when he suffered losses in the first round at the hands of Richie Burnett in 1998 and in the second round by Steve Duke in 1999. Some said that after this painful loss, we escaped away to Cape Verde hotels for his quite holidays, ummm how poor he was!

NAME: Marshall James

NICKNAME: None

DATE OF BIRTH: (1966-03-15) Unknown

PLACE OF BIRTH: Wales

RESIDES: Wales

HEIGHT: Unknown

MARITAL STATUS:

SPONSORS: none

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION: Marshall James was a member of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) from the year 1991 to 1999. In 1999, however, he quit the British Darts Organization and joined the Professional Darts Corporation (or the PDC), for which he played until 2003, when he retired from the game.

TYPE OF DARTS USED: not stated

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: not stated

TITLES: James is an Englishman and a former darts player. His best performances in the British Darts Organisation (BDO) Majors include the 1997 World Championship where he ended up as a runner-up and his advancement to the semi-finals of the World Masters of the year 1998.

His run at the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) Premier Events was not very illustrious and the best competition was his performance in the UK Open when he was only able to reach the 128th position. Among the other mentionable tournament achievements that he achieved are his victory in the 1997 Welsh Open and his advancement up to the finals of the 1991 and the quarter-finals of the 1992 Welsh Open tournaments respectively.