OTHER INFO: Considered at one point to be one of the greatest darts players ever, Mervyn King, popularly known as The King began playing darts at the age of 12 and thereafter established himself as an illustrious darts player in the British Darts Organization. However, he now plays for the rival Professional Darts Corporation, more popularly known as the PDC and has risen to the sixth ranking in the world darts scene, just after two years of joining the PDC. He debuted in the World Professional Darts Championship in 1997 where he hit thirty 180s during this whole tournament, which was a new record at that time. He reached the semi-finals, but lost 5-3 to Les Wallace.

His only first round defeat so far came when he was defeated by Andy Fordham in 1999. He displayed top form while he played the World Championship between 2002 and 2004. He did reach the finals twice but unfortunately he lost 4-6 and 3-6 to Tony David in 2002 and to Andy Fordham in 2004 respectively. He also lost in the semi-final of 2003 to Raymond van Barneveld. He lost in the second round to André Brantjes in 2005 and to Jelle Klaasen in 2006. Again, in 2007, he suffered defeat, this time at the semi-finals losing to Martin Adams. Although his rankings are below his previous form, he is still the man to beat in any tournament.

NAME:  Mervyn King

NICKNAME:  The King

DATE OF BIRTH:  15th March 1966

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Ipswich, Suffolk, England

RESIDES:  Bradwell, Norfolk, England

HEIGHT:  5’ 9”

MARITAL STATUS: single

SPONSORS:  totally into sport, Datadart, Manorfield Cars

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATION: King was a member of the British Darts Organization from 1995 to 2007. He was still under a contract from BDO for the 2008 tournament, when he made a rather controversial switch to the Professional Darts Corporation in February 2007. Still a member of PDC, his recent stint at the 2009 World Championship, elevated him to sixth position in the PDC Order of Merit.

TYPE OF DARTS USED:  22g Datadart (Own Design)

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:  He is very much into cars and also golfing.

TITLES: King has won on several Open titles since he first emerged onto the darts scene back in 1995. However it was in 2004 in Bridlington, only after a long wait, he claimed his first Grand Slam when he defeated Tony O’Shea and won the Winmau World Masters.

First at the International Darts League he defeated O’Shea in the finals, 13-11 in the legs. Second was Dutch Grand Masters held on 11th December 2005, where he beat Adams 5-4 in the finals He clinched his very first PDC Pro-Tour title in April 2008 at the Scottish Players Championship in Glasgow.

In his recent competition at the 2009 World Championship, he reached the semi finals before being truly beaten by Phil Taylor, 6-2.