FORGOTTEN DARTERS: Carlos Rodriguez caused sensation with Spain at first World Cup of Darts

In this column, we regularly reminisce about a 'forgotten darter' from the past. Today it is the turn of Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez.

Carlos Rodriguez was born on 28 January 1979 in Sabadell. He started playing darts in 1997 and impressed mainly in soft darts in his early years. In 2007, he achieved his first success in steel tip darts by winning the Gibraltar Open.

In 2008, he joined the PDC and thanks to some good results in Players Championships, he managed to qualify for the UK Open. In his opening match, however, things immediately went wrong against Paul Cooper. At the end of that year, he achieved his best result at a Players Championship with a defeat in the quarter-finals against James Wade.

That same year, he also impressed at the German Darts Trophy. After victories against top players such as Peter Manley and Kevin Painter, he lost to Colin Osborne in the final after a decisive leg. As a result of his excellent performance, Rodriguez was also invited to the European Championship at the end of that year. In the opening round, he caused a big surprise by sending Terry Jenkins home. In the second round, however, Steve Beaton proved too strong.

Rodriguez made his debut at the 2009 PDC World Cup and immediately caused a surprise in the opening round by beating 16th-seeded Roland Scholten 3-2. In the next round, however, Kevin Painter was too strong 4-1.

In 2010, Rodriguez, paired with Antonio Alcinas, caused an incredible sensation with the Spanish team at the first edition of the World Cup of Darts. After winning against Japan in the first round, they sent English duo Phil Taylor-James Wade home 6-5 in the second round. Finally, their adventure ended in the semi-finals after a 4-0 defeat against the Netherlands.

However, 'The Spanish Assassin' could not match those good results in the following years. In 2013, on his third appearance at the PDC World Championship, he went out in the preliminary round against John Bowles. After that World Cup, Rodriguez was 111th in the world rankings and needed to pass Q-School to secure his Tour Card. However, he failed to do so. Later that year, again paired with Alcinas, he did make another appearance at the World Cup of Darts. After surviving the group stage, they beat Scottish duo Gary Anderson-Robert Thornton 5-4 in the last 16. They then went down 4-2 against Wales in the quarter-finals.

In 2014, he made his last appearance at the World Cup of Darts with Spain, this time losing 2-0 to the Netherlands. Afterwards, Rodriguez quietly faded away from the professional circuit and in 2017 he left the PDC. Since then, he did not appear in international tournaments.