Lionel Sams

Lionel Sams
Lionel Sams
Personal information
Full name	Lionel Jeffrey Sams
Nickname	"The Lion"
Born	20 January 1961 (age 63); Paddington, London, England
Home town	Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England
Darts information
Playing darts since	1986
Darts	A180/Lionel Sams 19gm Tungsten
Laterality	Left-handed
Walk-on music	"Jungle Rock" by Hank Mizell
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1986–2001, 2011–2012
PDC	2001–2010, 2013–2015
WDF major events – best performances
World Masters	Last 64: 1995
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 16: 2004
World Matchplay	Last 16: 2006
World Grand Prix	Last 16: 2006
UK Open	Last 16: 2005
Desert Classic	Last 32: 2004, 2005
US Open/WSoD	Last 32: 2007
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
Bury St Edmunds Open; Cosham Xmas Open; Hersham Open; Kent Open ; West Tyrone Open	2013; ; 2001; 2003; 2008; 2007
Other achievements
	Nine dart finish Le Skratch Open, Montreal, 12 May 2002
	Updated on 11 February 2008.

Last updated November 11, 2024

Lionel Jeffrey Sams (born 20 January 1961) is an English former darts player who played in events of the British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). His nickname was The Lion.

Sams' first televised darts match was on Anglia Television in 1986 at the Ladbrokes Festival (British Matchplay). He reached the final, but lost to Terry O'Dea. He then had some minor tournament victories including the Camber Sands Singles (1988) and Kent Open (1988 and 1989) but it was a long time before he made any impact on the darts circuit.

Career

Sams' career turned for the better after joining the PDC. He hit a perfect nine-dart leg in a match against Ronnie Baxter in Montreal in May 2002 – there was no prize for the achievement, but players passed round a hat to collect $400.^[1]

During the mid-2000s, Sams was a regular in televised PDC majors. He consistently reached the last 16 of tournaments on the PDC circuit, which helped him to maintain a world ranking inside the top 32.

He was successful at the West Tyrone Open in February 2007, winning the singles and the doubles event, with Sean McGowan.^[2]

Decline

Sams' record at the World Championship has been poor since reaching the last 16 in 2004 and he lost his first match at each of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Championships. He also failed to achieve success in the other televised tournaments, being unable to reach the quarter-final stage of any of the majors. He slipped outside the top 32 towards the end of 2007, and as a result, he inadvertently failed to enter himself for the qualifying rounds for the 2008 World Championship, missing out on the tournament for the first time since 2003. He has failed to qualify for the PDC World Championship since 2007.

During 2009, he reached two quarter finals on the PDC Pro Tour, but ended the year with only £6,100 in total prize money. He had a further decline in 2010, picking up just £600 in total prize money, as he entered fewer events and then failed to get past the last 64 stage of any Pro Tour Event. His PDC ranking fell to near 100 at the start of 2011 and he chose to decline a Pro Tour card for the year, effectively ending his PDC career. He joined the British Darts Organisation circuit in 2011.^[3]

World Championship results

PDC

2004: 4th Round (lost to Simon Whatley 1–4) (sets)
2005: 3rd Round (lost to Dennis Priestley 1–4)
2006: 1st Round (lost to John Kuczynski 0–3)
2007: 1st Round (lost to Dave Ladley 1–3)

Related Research Articles

John Part is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator, as well as competing in World Seniors events. Nicknamed "Darth Maple", he is a three-time World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, and the PDC World Championship in 2003 and 2008. Part is statistically North America's greatest darts player to date. He has the distinction of being the first non-UK player to win the World Championship, and the only non-European to date to win the PDC World Darts Championship.

Kevin Painter is an English retired darts player, known as "The Artist". He is arguably most famous for finishing as the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, now widely credited as one of the greatest televised matches in the history of the sport. He was also the winner of the Players Championship Finals in 2011.

Colin Edward Lloyd, nicknamed Jaws, is an English former professional darts player. He is a former world number-one ranked player and has won two major television titles in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) – the 2004 World Grand Prix and the 2005 World Matchplay.

Richard Mark Burnett, nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former World No. 1 who won the 1995 Embassy World Darts Championship. Burnett is known for coming on to "Dakota" and dancing on stage. He is also known for his fiery personality, fighting with Adrian Lewis on stage during the 2012 Players Championship Finals.

Chris Mason is an English former professional darts player. He used the nickname Mace the Ace.

Mark Webster is a Welsh former professional darts player. Nicknamed Webby and The Spider, he played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Webster began his career on the British Darts Organisation (BDO) circuit, winning the BDO World Championship in 2008. He became a full-time professional in 2009, having previously been a fully qualified registered plumber. He now works as an analyst and commentator on Sky Sports and ITV.

Wayne Jones is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tournaments. He uses the nickname The Wanderer for his matches.

Barrie Bates is a Welsh former darts player who played on the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) circuit. His original nickname was Batesy, but since 2007 he was known as Champagne.

Jamie Harvey is a Scottish former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments. Originally nicknamed “The Tartan Terror” he later used the nickname Bravedart for his matches – a play on the lead character from the film Braveheart. As darts began to introduce entrance tunes for its players during the 1990s, Harvey used to come to stage whilst the tune "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" was played.

Wesley Newton is an English professional darts player.

Adrian Gray is an English darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.

Kevin McDine is an English professional darts player currently residing in Wallsend.

Jan van der Rassel is a Dutch former professional darts player. He used the nicknames The Project and Rassel Dazzle for his matches.

Paul Michael Nicholson is an English former professional darts player who played in events of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He won a major event, the 2010 Players Championship Finals, where he defeated Mervyn King in the final. He was also the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2011 Championship League Darts, and part of the Australia team which lost a sudden death shoot-out to England in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts final.

John Henderson is a Scottish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the current World Seniors Tour World and Matchplay champion. Henderson also won the 2021 PDC World Cup of Darts partnering Peter Wright for Scotland.

David Chisnall is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where he is currently ranked No. 5 in the world.

Michael Barnard is an English professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events.

Mark Hylton is a former English professional darts player. He played in Professional Darts Corporation events.

Danny Noppert is a Dutch professional darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is a former BDO World Darts Championship finalist, as well as being a Finder Darts Masters champion in 2017, before switching to the PDC in 2018, where he won the 2022 UK Open.

Adam Smith-Neale is an English professional darts player.

References

↑ "Bull's Eye News – Feature: Montreal's Gem – Billiard le Skratch Sarantos Retsinas Memorial". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
↑ "Planet Darts – News – Latest – Lion Roars In West Tyrone Open". 2 March 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
↑ "Planet Darts | Latest News | Newsdesk | Newsdesk | Q School Entries Announced". Archived from the original on 14 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Bull's Eye News – Feature: Montreal's Gem – Billiard le Skratch Sarantos Retsinas Memorial". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2007.

[2] "Planet Darts – News – Latest – Lion Roars In West Tyrone Open". 2 March 2007. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2018.

[3] "Planet Darts | Latest News | Newsdesk | Newsdesk | Q School Entries Announced". Archived from the original on 14 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.

[1]

[2]

[3]