The 2002 BDO World Darts Championship (officially the 2002 Embassy World Darts Championship) was a professional darts tournament held from 5 to 13 January 2002 at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey, England. It was the 25th staging of the competition since the 1978 edition and the 17th time it took place at the Lakeside Country Club. The tournament was the first of 12 British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments in 2002 and a women's world championship was held for the second time. The host broadcaster was the BBC and the competition was sponsored by the cigarette company Embassy.
Tony David defeated Mervyn King six sets to four in the final. He was the first Australian to win the BDO world championship and the first non-European to do so since John Part. David defeated Ritchie Davies, Marko Pusa, Bob Taylor and the England captain Martin Adams en route to the final. King achieved a 170 checkout, the highest of the competition, in the third leg of the third set of his second round match against Mensur Suljović. The women's tournament was won by Trina Gulliver for the second consecutive year, defeating Mandy Solomons, Vicky Pruim and Francis Hoenselaar en route to victory.
Background
Men's tournament
The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was formed in 1973 by the managing director Olly Croft; the BDO World Darts Championship was first held in 1978. It was one of two world championships in the game of darts: the other being the PDC World Darts Championship. The 2002 tournament was held between 5 and 13 January in Frimley Green, Surrey, England and was the first of 12 BDO-sanctioned events that year. It was the 25th anniversary edition of the tournament and featured a 32-player main draw played at the Lakeside Country Club.
A total of 27 players automatically qualified for the main draw with the top 8 seeded according to their final position in the BDO rankings. The tournament's defending champion and world number one John Walton was seeded first and the second seed was Martin Adams, the England captain. The five qualifying places were decided via a play-off round at the Lakeside Country Club on 29 November 2001. John Ferrell, two-time finalist Bobby George, Markus Korhohen, Davy Richardson and Mensur Suljović were the five players from a worldwide field of 300 who progressed to the main draw by qualifying. The maximum number of sets played in a match increased from five in the first and second rounds to nine in the quarter and semi-finals, leading to the final which was played as best-of-11 sets. Sponsored by the cigarette brand Embassy, it had a total prize fund of £197,000 and was broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC and SBS6 in the Netherlands.
The media considered Walton and the fifth seed Raymond van Barneveld the favourites to win the championship. There was some controversy prior to the competition when six qualifying players -- 1996 champion Steve Beaton, two-time finalist Ronnie Baxter, Andy Jenkins, Chris Mason, Kevin Painter and Paul Williams -- opted to play in the rival Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) world championship instead. Olly Croft insisted the absent players would not be missed, but the head of BBC darts disagreed, stating: "You can't just replace recognisable people with unknowns and say it is the same and that nothing has changed." This allowed Peter Johnstone, Wayne Jones, Stefan Nagy, Russell Stewart and Andree Welge to take their places.
Women's tournament
The BDO confirmed in November 2001 the women's world championship would be held for a second time. The governing body expanded the tournament's roster from four players in 2001 to eight in 2002 after receiving positive feedback from its sponsors and the BBC. The tournament was staged between 5 and 12 January 2002. Four players automatically qualified for the main draw and were seeded according to their final position in the BDO rankings. The competition's defending champion Trina Gulliver was seeded first. Francis Hoenselaar was the second seed and Crissy Howat was seeded third. The final seed was Vicky Pruim. The remaining four places were decided via a play-off round held at the Lakeside Country Club on 30 November 2001. Stacy Bromberg, Sandra Greatbatch, Jan Robbins and Mandy Solomon were the quartet of players who advanced from qualifying to the main draw. All matches were played to the best-of-three sets.