BDO World Darts Championship: tournament preview, tips, odds & predictions

Tournament preview and best bets for the BDO World Darts Championships.

Where to watch

Starts 1pm Saturday, Eurosport 1

Best bets

Richard Veenstra to win men's BDO World Championship
1pt each-way 9-1 Betfred

Martijn Kleermaker to win men's BDO World Championship
1pt each-way 25-1 general

Lisa Ashton to win women's BDO World Championship
2pts 2-1 general

Tournament preview

The New Year kicked off with a thrilling darting party courtesy of Peter Wright’s triumph at Alexandra Palace, but just a few days later arrers fans are invited to a wake as the BDO World Darts Championships start for quite possibly the last time.

The organisation, which brought darts to the masses, is on its knees and many observers are surprised that the cash-strapped body has actually managed to get a 2020 world championships off the ground.

The venue has been moved from the iconic Lakeside to London’s O2, prize money has been slashed and ticket sales have fallen. But the show goes on: Eurosport are broadcasting it, and there's a winner to be found.

Jim Williams, a man who made the quarter-finals two years ago and the semis last year, is trending towards a final and is the 7-2 favourite.

The top seed is Wesley Harms, a serial underachiever who hasn’t ventured past the last eight in his last six attempts.

Harms mops up on tour under virtually no scrutiny but looks unbackable this week, especially as he’s log-jammed into a talented quarter where if Scott Waites (or Martin Adams) doesn’t take care of him in round two, the victor from a mini-bracket featuring Willem Mandigers, Michael Unter­buchner, 2015 champ Scott Mitchell or boy wonder Leighton Bennett probably will in the quarters.

Williams has swerved all that bedlam by landing in the opposite half of the draw but he offers no value in a tournament in which you can chuck a blanket over a dozen of the players.

From the softer half, claims can be made for a pair of Dutch chuckers, Richard Veenstra and Martijn Kleermaker, a duo bidding farewell to the BDO before heading for the PDC Q School later this month.

Three-time champ Glen Durrant reckons Veenstra has the game for a lucrative life in the PDC, and the 2016 semi-finalist goes to London after another successful year with a trio of wins including the prestigious Dutch Open.

Giant Kleermaker is an elegant thrower who pocketed four titles in 2019 while also making the finals of the World Cup and German Open.

Fallon Sherrock would have been disputing favouritism – despite a poor recent record – had she taken on the women as there are only four real contenders, but she pulled out of the tournament earlier this week.

Anastasia Dobromyslova may not have the gears to go through, 15-year-old Beau Greaves is classy but young enough to find the whole thing scary, which leaves last year’s heroine Mikuru Suzuki, who didn’t drop a set dotting up.

Her first victim on that golden run was Lisa Ashton, still the benchmark and good enough to get her revenge.

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