Dave Askew
Encyclopedia
Dave Askew is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 player who competes in the Professional Darts Corporation
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...

. Askew is a twice semi-finalist in the PDC World Championship
PDC World Darts Championship
The PDC World Darts Championship is a world championship competition for the sport of darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation . It was introduced following a dispute in 1994 with the British Darts Organisation, which has run its own world championship since 1978...

, both in 2001
2001 PDC World Darts Championship
The 2001 Skol World Darts Championship was held between December 28, 2000–January 3, 2001 at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet.The tournament saw a notable first as Gayl King of Canada became the first woman to appear in the men's World Championship, having been given a wild card by organisers the...

 and 2002 and on both occasions losing to eventual winner Phil Taylor.

Overview

Askew began competing in major tournaments in the late 1980s, prior to the split in the game
Split in darts
The split in darts refers to an acrimonious dispute between top professional darts players and the game's governing body which began in 1992 and resulted in the formation of a new organisation to arrange tournaments - including a second version of the World Professional Darts Championship...

 during 1992-94. He won the Danish Open in 1988 and the French Open the following year. After the top players left the British Darts Organisation
British Darts Organisation
The British Darts Organisation, or the BDO for short, is a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, OBE. The BDO is a founder member of the World Darts Federation which was formed in 1976....

 during mid-1993, Askew began to produce some more good results, reaching the final of the British Open and the quarter-finals of the Belgian Open and the Winmau World Masters
Winmau World Masters
The Winmau World Masters is one of the longest running and most prestigious professional darts tournaments, which began in 1974 - even before the current World Professional Championship...

, performances which secured his debut at the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship
1994 BDO World Darts Championship
-References:...

 (the first year after the split) but he lost to Ian Sarfas - an Englishman who made his only World Championship appearance that year. In 1995, Askew came back from 2 sets down to beat the number one seed Steve Beaton
Steve Beaton
Steve Beaton is an English professional darts player for the Professional Darts Corporation...

 in the first round of the World Championship before losing heavily to Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

, who went on to reach his first world final that year.

After the 1995 World Championships and Scottish Open, Askew virtually disappeared off the circuit for around five years - with only a semi-final appearance at the British Open and a quarter final at the Dutch Open in 1998 of note. He then joined the Professional Darts Corporation
Professional Darts Corporation
The Professional Darts Corporation is a professional darts organization, established in the United Kingdom during 1992, when a group of leading professional players split from the British Darts Organisation to form what was initially called the World Darts Council...

 in May 2000, and a few months later was reaching the semi finals of the 2001 World Championship
2001 PDC World Darts Championship
The 2001 Skol World Darts Championship was held between December 28, 2000–January 3, 2001 at the Circus Tavern, Purfleet.The tournament saw a notable first as Gayl King of Canada became the first woman to appear in the men's World Championship, having been given a wild card by organisers the...

. Later in 2001, he reached the final of the Irish Masters (losing to Denis Ovens
Denis Ovens
Denis Ovens is an English darts player currently ranked number 29 in the PDC Order of Merit. He is nicknamed The Heat and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is widely regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he has as yet failed to convert his form from the circuit to...

). He beat Chris Mason
Chris Mason (darts player)
Christopher John Mason is an English darts player who plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. He uses the nickname Mace the Ace for his matches.- BDO and first PDC spell :...

, Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten
Roland Scholten is a Dutch professional darts player who plays for the Professional Darts Corporation and formerly for the British Darts Organisation. He is nicknamed Tripod or The Flying Dutchman and uses Hey Ya by Outkast as his walk-on. He is currently ranked 45th in the PDC...

 and Dennis Priestley
Dennis Priestley
Dennis Priestley is an English professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively...

 in another fine run to the semi-final of the 2002 World Championship. Shortly after the Worlds he reached the semi-finals of the Irish Masters again.

However since then, Askew has failed to live up to the building potential. He made regular quarter-final and semi-final appearances at the non-televised events in 2004, but then only one quarter-final in 2005 and one in 2006 saw his world ranking
Darts world rankings
Darts world rankings are a system which should determine a list of the best dart players in the world based on their performances in tournaments...

 steadily fall. He competed at 31 PDC tour events during 2007, with £5,475 prize money and just two quarter-final runs to show for it. He fell out of the top 32 of the rankings, which means he will have to qualify for all future televised events including the World Championships. He currently lies 71st on the PDC Order of Merit
PDC order of merit
The PDC Order of Merit is a world ranking system used by one of the darts organisations, the Professional Darts Corporation . Following the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship it superseded a world ranking system based on points being awarded for performances in ranking tournaments.-Previous world...

.

Askew is not a full-time professional player - he earns his living as a bricklayer
Bricklayer
A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...

.

World Championship performances

1994 (BDO) Last 32 lost to Ian Sarfas 0-3
1995 (BDO) Last 16 lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0-3
2001 (PDC) Semi Final lost to Phil Taylor 0-6
2002 (PDC) Semi Final lost to Phil Taylor 0-6
2003 (PDC) Last 16 lost to Roland Scholten 0-5
2004 (PDC) Last 32 lost to Keith Deller 3-4
2005 (PDC) Last 32 lost to Chris Mason 3-4
2006 (PDC) Last 64 lost to Gerry Convery 0-3
2007 (PDC) Last 16 lost to Alan Tabern 3-4
2008 (PDC) Last 64 lost to Adrian Lewis 1-3

External links

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