World Darts Championships Player Profile # 1: John Part

The current World Champion is from Oshawa in Canada. He first rose to prominence in 1994 when he won the BDO World Championship at the lakeside. With the Darts world split into two organisations and with the greatest prize money and TV coverage, not to mention Phil Taylor, at the PDC Part made the move across the darting divide in 1997.

He rose through the PDC ranks and faced Taylor in the World Championship final in 2001 only to be thrashed by The Power.

Two years later he was back and this time it was Part who had the upper hand. He'd been in magnificent form throughout the tournament. Taylor had been at his imperious best and was still the favourite to take the title yet again. It was an epic encounter rivaled only by the great Taylor v Van Barneveld final of 2007. Part claimed the title by 7 games to 6 despite Taylor fighting back from 4-1 down.

The years that follow have been inconsistent for Part, a founder member of the Premier League he lost his spot in 2007 and has struggled to regain those magnificent heights. Nevertheless he remained one of the top players in the World as slowly started to put things back together last year, culminating in a fantastic run the the final of the World Championships this time last year. Rather than face Taylor, he was confronted by the rank outsider Kirk Shepherd whose hot streak had coincided with his appearance in the Championships and had deposited him unexpectedly in the final. It was a disappointing match in truth. Perhaps understandably the occasion got to Shepherd. Part won easily and took his third world crown.

Part plays with a perma-sneer on his face. When he's playing well he is a prodigious double thrower under pressure and a heavy scorer. He also has a reputation for being one of the best counters in the business. His nick-name is Darth Maple and his walk-on music is the Imperial March from Star Wars by John Williams. He is also supposed to be one of the nicest guys on the circuit. All of these elements make him a worthy champion.