‘Huge honour’ to referee world title decider
King’s Park darts referee Antony Dundas has hailed the standard of play at this year’s BDO World Championships.
Antony was chosen to take charge of this year’s conclusion to the tournament, as he refereed the men’s championship final between Scott Waites and eventual champion Glen Durrant.
Durrant won the match 7-3 to lift his third consecutive title at the Lakeside, with Antony onstage for the final session of the match.
It was the seventh world final he has officiated, and the fourth men’s championship final.
He said:“I found out on the Friday night that I’d be doing the final.
“The refs work in a rotation, and as the schedule was going on I had an idea I might be in line for the final - but I didn’t want to say anything that might jinx it!
“It was a huge honour to get it, a real source of pride, because getting a world final is the pinnacle. I was really nervous beforehand, even though I’ve done the final before, but as soon as I went onstage the nerves disappeared.”
Antony believes the amount of upsets and surprise results, including unseeded Mikuru Suzuki lifting the women’s title, added to the excitement at this year’s tournament.
He explained:“I thought the standard was quite high over the two weeks. There were a lot of upsets and shocks, and that added to it this year.
“Those upsets really made the tournament what it was, and the atmosphere was electric - the crowds were in good voice at every session.
“That always makes things more exciting.”
And the ref felt that Durrant was a worthy winner of the competition.
He added:“He did it the hard way. There were matches early on where he could have gone out and he managed to come through it.
“In the final it was three-all at the interval, but he came out all guns blazing and won the next four sets.
“It was a brilliant couple of weeks, and I loved being part of it.”