Tony Eccles

Tony Eccles ( born January 8, 1970 in Middlesbrough, England ) is an English darts player, who is currently at the BDO under contract. His nickname is The Viper and he uses "Rock This Party " by Bob Sinclar as his running music.

Career

Starts at the BDO

For the first time in 2002 Eccles qualified for the world championship of the BDO, but lost in both 2002 and 2003 and 2004 respectively in the first round (2002 against Wayne Jones, 2003 against Erik Clarys and 2004 against John Walton ). It was only in 2005, he won his first match at a BDO World Championship. In the first round he defeated the Australian Tony David 3-2, then defeated, however, Vincent van der Voort with 1:3. In 2006 he was defeated again in the first round, this time the Dane Per Laursen 2:3. 2007 followed but his best performance at a BDO World Championship. After victories against Mark Webster ( 3-0) and Shaun Greatbatch (4-0 ) lost only against Mervyn King in the quarterfinals with almost 4:5. First Eccles went 3-0 lead, but then gave four blocks in a row and won the eighth set to force the decisive ninth set, but lost this.

However, Eccles could win some tournaments BDO away from the cameras. In 2005 he won the Dutch Open, the England Open, and the Sweden Open. The title of the Sweden Open, he was able to defend successfully in 2006 and also won the Norway Open. From these results, he rose up in the world rankings and was therefore set for the 2006 World Cup at position five. In 2007, he was eventually placed fourth. In April 2007 he won again the Norway Open.

Changes to the PDC

In the afternoon of the UK Open in June 2007 Eccles announced that he would go to the competing Darts Association PDC. At this time he was the world number two ranking of fourth in the WDF and BDO. After joining, he began his career at the PDC on place 151 of the PDC Order of Merit. In his first PDC World Championship 2008 he immediately reached the knockout stage, where he but with 3:4 lost to Adrian Lewis. At the World Championship 2009 he was placed at position 30 and played in the first round against Dutchman Remco van Eijden, who was himself a short time before switching to the PDC. First Eccles went 2-0 lead, but resembled van Eijden from before Eccles could finally win 3-2. In the second round he defeated then the set of three Englishman James Wade with 2:4.

Also in the 2010 World Cup he was set. In this edition at position 31, but had in his first round match Brendan Dolan to defer and lost with 1-3 against the Northern Irishman.

Return to BDO

After an injury and average performance on the stage, Eccles returned to the BDO.

Because of his move to the PDC and its return to the BDO fans Eccles were minded to non- friendly. However, he failed to qualify for the BDO World Championship in 2013 and played in the first round against Geert de Vos. First, he won the first five legs and had three set of darts to go 2-0 in sets in, in the end he lost but then with 2:3 sets. Due to this performance Eccles won many fans of the BDO back, and his defeat was regarded by them as unhappy.

Tournament successes

  • British Open: 2002
  • Dutch Open 2005
  • Swedish Open: 2005 & 2006
  • Norway Open: 2006 & 2007
  • German Gold Cup: 2007
  • Scottish Open: 2012
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