01/09/2021

FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Stefan Lord the most successful Swedish dart player

In this section we regularly remember Forgotten Darters from the past. Today it is the turn of the Swede, Stefan Lord.

Lord was born on 4 December 1954 in Stockholm. The Swede was present at the very first BDO World Championship in 1978. In the Heart of the Midlands Club in Nottingham, England, he was the sixth player in the series and was exempted in the first round. In the second round he beat his compatriot Kenth Ohlsson by 6 legs to 3. In the quarter-finals he was too strong for the Scot, Rab Smith. In the semi-finals, however, he lost to John Lowe.

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News of the World Championship

That same year he won the News of the World Championship by beating John Coward in the final by two sets to nil. He won the same tournament again in 1980. He is one of seven players who have won this tournament more than once and is also the only overseas player to win it.

In 1981 Lord again made his mark by reaching the semi-finals of the Winmau World Masters. Once again John Lowe, the man who had denied him entry to the World Championship final three years earlier, was the bogeyman.

Another semi-final at the BDO World Championship

Lord was knocked out of the BDO World Championship in 1979, 1980 and 1981, but in 1982 he put in another strong performance. In the first three rounds, Les Capewell, Luc Marreel and Steve Brennan were beaten, so that four years after his debut, he was back in the semi-finals of the World Championship. But again it went wrong in this stage of the tournament, as the Scot, Jocky Wilson, triumphed convincingly 4-0 in sets.

Lord always made it to the BDO Championships, but in 1983 he only made the quarter finals. In 1986 his last appearance at a WC was a 3-0 loss to Paul Lim in the opening round. Lord left the BDO in 1991 and didn't play in any international tournaments after that.

Most successful Swedish darts player

The Swede is the only player from his country to reach the semi-finals of a World Championship twice. Magnus Caris also reached the semi-finals of the 1994 BDO World Championships, but only once.