FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Robert 'The Magician' Wagner who hasn't conjured up any magic for a while now

In this section we regularly look back at 'forgotten darters' from the past. Today it's the turn of the Norwegian Robert Wagner.

Wagner was born on 14 June 1965 in Vienna. Later on, he would not play for Austria, but for Norway. Wagner made his first appearance when he qualified for the BDO World Championship in 2003. In the opening round at Lakeside Country Club he caused a surprise by beating Englishman Gary Robson 3-1. In the second round Belgian, Erik Clarys was too strong 3-0.

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Due to his good performances in the BDO, he was also allowed to play at two top Dutch tournaments later that year. However, he did not make it through the group stage at the International Darts League and the Finder Masters. Wagner did manage to collect enough points at the international tournaments to qualify directly for the BDO World Championship in 2004. In the opening round he was too strong for Co Stompé (3-2), but the second round was his final round after a 3-1 defeat against former world champion John Walton.

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Semi-finals at Dutch Open and Winmau World Masters

2008 was the best year of Wagner's career. At the beginning of the year the Norwegian reached the semi-finals at the Dutch Open, where he lost to the later winner Robert Thornton.

After winning the Norway National Championship, he went to the Winmau World Masters full of confidence. After wins in the last sixteen against Gary Anderson and in the last eight against Joey ten Berge, he eventually went down in the semi-finals against Scott Waites.

In early 2010 Wagner played the last BDO World Championship of his career. In the first round he pulled off a real shock by beating eighth seeded Englishman Alan Norris 3-2. In the second round Wagner was too strong for Brian Woods after a real thriller, 4-3, but in the quarter-finals he lost to Tony O'Shea, 5-1.

Outburst towards the BDO

In 2012, Wagner caused controversy by speaking out against the BDO during a PDC tournament of the Scandinavian Darts Organisation. Wagner was even denied entry to the Winmau World Masters later that year for his remarks.

Wagner took part in the European Championship in 2014, his only participation in a ranked PDC major, but lost straight away at the last 32. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 he also took part in the World Cup of Darts with Norway, but after that Wagner disappeared from the big stage. At the age of 56, his career seems to be over.