# Tony David

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Australian darts player

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Darts player

Tony David Personal information Full name Anthony David Nickname "The Deadly Boomerang" Born (1967-09-11) 11 September 1967 (age 58) Townsville, Australia Home town Townsville, Australia Darts information Playing darts since 1993 Darts 23g Formula Sports Tony David Laterality Right-handed Walk-on music "Down Under" by Men at Work Organisation (see split in darts) BDO 1996–2018 PDC 2005 WDF major events – best performances World Championship Winner (1): 2002 World Masters Semi-final: 2004 World Trophy Winner (1): 2002 Int. Darts League Runner-up: 2004 Finder Masters Winner (1): 2002 Other tournament wins Australian Grand Masters 2002, 2008 Australian Masters 1996, 2000, 2001 French Open 2003 Central Coast Australian Classic 2006 New Zealand Open 2006 Pacific Masters 2003 Medal record Men's Darts Representing Australia WDF Asia-Pacific Cup 2008 Palmertson Team event 2000 Manila Team event 2000 Manila Men's pairs 2008 Palmertson Men's pairs

**Tony David** (born 11 September 1967)[1] is an Australian former professional [darts](/source/Darts) player, who played under the nickname **The Deadly Boomerang**. He is the only Australian player to have been a senior singles world darts champion, having won the [2002 Embassy World Championship](/source/2002_BDO_World_Darts_Championship).

## Career

David started playing darts at the age of 25 and progressed into the Queensland State team in 1995. Four years later, he made the Australian [WDF World Cup](/source/WDF_World_Cup_darts) team for the first time.

He made his first trip to the [Lakeside Country Club](/source/Lakeside_Leisure_Complex) in 2001 to play in the Embassy World Championship, losing to [Andy Fordham](/source/Andy_Fordham) 0–3 in the first round.

The following year, in 2002, he qualified for his second attempt at the World Championship. Despite being a 66/1 outsider before the tournament began, he went all the way to the final, beating Ritchie Davies, [Marko Pusa](/source/Marko_Pusa), [Bob Taylor](/source/Bob_Taylor_(darts_player)) before winning a tight semi-final against [Martin Adams](/source/Martin_Adams) 5–4. He was the slight favourite for the title going into the final due to his results, and went on to beat [Mervyn King](/source/Mervyn_King_(darts_player)) 6–4 in the final. He became the first Australian player to win a World Professional Darts Championship.

Later in 2002, he won the [World Darts Trophy](/source/World_Darts_Trophy) in the Netherlands, one of the [British Darts Organisation](/source/British_Darts_Organisation)'s other Grand Slam titles. Also in 2002, David won the Australian Grand Masters and the [Doeland Grand Masters](/source/Zuiderduin_Masters) to cap off a superb year. David also reached the semi-finals of the [World Darts Trophy](/source/World_Darts_Trophy) in 2003 and 2004, losing both times to [Raymond van Barneveld](/source/Raymond_van_Barneveld). David also lost to Barneveld in the final of the [International Darts League](/source/International_Darts_League) in 2004.

David went into the 2003 World Championship at the Lakeside as the number 1 seed and pre-tournament favourite after his 2002 successes. The defence of his world title started creditably as he defeated Brian Sorensen and [Vincent van der Voort](/source/Vincent_van_der_Voort) in his first two matches, but ended with a surprising 0–5 loss at the quarter-final stage to Ritchie Davies of [Wales](/source/Wales). After that defeat, David has failed to win another match at the Lakeside event. He went out in the first round in 2004 to [Darryl Fitton](/source/Darryl_Fitton) and in 2005 to [Tony Eccles](/source/Tony_Eccles). He failed to qualify for the 2006 or 2007 events. He returned to Lakeside in 2008 but lost in the first round to [Gary Robson](/source/Gary_Robson_(darts_player)).

In February 2005, David was one of the four BDO players who competed at the prestigious [2005 Masters of Darts](/source/2005_Masters_of_Darts), against four PDC players. Of the four matches that David played at the event, he won 2 and lost 2. He defeated [Wayne Mardle](/source/Wayne_Mardle) 4–2 in sets in his opening match, lost 0–4 in sets to reigning PDC World Champion [Phil Taylor](/source/Phil_Taylor_(darts_player)) in his second match, lost 3–4 in sets to reigning UK Open champion [Roland Scholten](/source/Roland_Scholten) in his third match, and then won his fourth match against the reigning World Grand Prix champion, [Colin Lloyd](/source/Colin_Lloyd), by 4–3 in sets. Despite his two victories, David failed to progress to the semi-finals, with [Andy Fordham](/source/Andy_Fordham) and [Raymond van Barneveld](/source/Raymond_van_Barneveld) progressing to the semi-finals from the BDO group, as David was eliminated. Phil Taylor eventually won the tournament.

## Health problems

David has [haemophilia](/source/Haemophilia), which requires regular medication. On top of this, his throwing action is slightly limited by the condition, as he cannot bring his arm back as far as most players due to bleeding in his elbow during childhood causing crystallization in the elbow.

On 21 February 2009, David was rushed to hospital to undergo an emergency liver transplant due to complications with interferon/ribuviron treatment. The transplant was a successful one, and David has recovered well, although he has been unable to fully return to darts.

On 7 December [*[when?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items)*], David was rushed into hospital for an operation on his spleen. The operation was deemed to be a success. David's close friend Allan Summers said on BDOforums.co.uk that he is "improving day by day from his latest operation; however, it would be some time before he would be allowed back home to continue his ongoing treatment".

## Personal life

David married his long-time partner, [Natalie Carter](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Natalie_Carter&action=edit&redlink=1), on 20 November 2010. They divorced in March 2018.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## World Championship Results

### BDO

- 2001: 1st round (lost to [Andy Fordham](/source/Andy_Fordham) 0–3) (sets)

- 2002: **Winner** (beat [Mervyn King](/source/Mervyn_King_(darts_player)) 6–4)

- 2003: Quarter-final (lost to Ritchie Davies 0–5)

- 2004: 1st round (lost to [Darryl Fitton](/source/Darryl_Fitton) 2–3)

- 2005: 1st round (lost to [Tony Eccles](/source/Tony_Eccles) 2–3)

- 2008: 1st round (lost to [Gary Robson](/source/Gary_Robson_(darts_player)) 1–3)

## Career finals

### BDO major finals: 4 (3 titles)

Legend World Championship (1–0) World Darts Trophy (1–0) Zuiderduin Masters (1–0) International Darts League (0–1)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score[note 1] Winner 1. 2002 World Championship Mervyn King 6–4 (s) Winner 2. 2002 World Darts Trophy Tony O'Shea 6–0 (s) Winner 3. 2002 Zuiderduin Masters Mervyn King 6–4 (s) Runner-up 1. 2004 International Darts League Raymond van Barneveld 5–13 (s)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-score_2-0)** (l) = score in legs, (s) = score in sets.

## Performance timeline

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 BDO World Championship DNP 1R W QF 1R 1R DNQ 1R International Darts League Not held QF RU RR DNQ NH World Darts Trophy Not held W SF SF 1R DNQ NH Winmau World Masters 4R 2R 2R 3R SF 3R 3R DNP Zuiderduin Masters DNP W RR DNQ Masters of Darts Not held RR NH DNP NH

Performance Table Legend W Won the tournament F Finalist SF Semifinalist QF Quarterfinalist #R RR L# Lost in # round Round-robin Last # stage DQ Disqualified DNQ Did not qualify DNP Did not participate WD Withdrew NH Tournament not held NYF Not yet founded

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Profile from Darts Federation Australia DFA](http://www.dfadarts.org/pages/profiles/profile_tonydavid.htm)

## External links

- [Stats from Darts Database](http://www.DartsDatabase.co.uk/PlayerDetails.aspx?playerKey=88)

v t e BDO World Darts Championship winners Men 1978: Rees 1979: Lowe 1980: Bristow 1981: Bristow 1982: Wilson 1983: Deller 1984: Bristow 1985: Bristow 1986: Bristow 1987: Lowe 1988: Anderson 1989: Wilson 1990: Taylor 1991: Priestley 1992: Taylor 1993: Lowe 1994: Part 1995: Burnett 1996: Beaton 1997: Wallace 1998: Van Barneveld 1999: Van Barneveld 2000: Hankey 2001: Walton 2002: David 2003: Van Barneveld 2004: Fordham 2005: Van Barneveld 2006: Klaasen 2007: Adams 2008: Webster 2009: Hankey 2010: Adams 2011: Adams 2012: Kist 2013: Waites 2014: Bunting 2015: Mitchell 2016: Waites 2017: Durrant 2018: Durrant 2019: Durrant 2020: Warren Women 2001: Gulliver 2002: Gulliver 2003: Gulliver 2004: Gulliver 2005: Gulliver 2006: Gulliver 2007: Gulliver 2008: Dobromyslova 2009: Hoenselaar 2010: Gulliver 2011: Gulliver 2012: Dobromyslova 2013: Dobromyslova 2014: Ashton 2015: Ashton 2016: Gulliver 2017: Ashton 2018: Ashton 2019: Suzuki 2020: Suzuki

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tony David](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_David) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_David?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.