Gayl King
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Gayl King (born 2 January 1964) is a Canadian former professional darts player. She was the first woman to be invited by the darts organization
Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...
(PDC) to complete in the
PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has ...
in the 2001 tournament and was the winner of several regional and national darts competitions in Canada.


Personal background

King was born and raised in a small community in the Canadian province of
Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...
and has fourteen siblings. She has two grown-up sons, and worked as a bookkeeper for a restaurant chain in
Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
,
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
prior to her debut in the
PDC World Darts Championship The PDC World Darts Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the Paddy Power World Darts Championship is a world championship competition held annually in the sport of darts. The championship begins in December and ends in January and has ...
.


Darts career

King was introduced to the throwing game of
darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...
by one of her older sisters Mary; her brother-in-law provided her with an instructional book which strengthened her interest in the sport. She made her
British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, and dissolved in 2020 under the stewardship of Des Jacklin. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and ...
debut in the 1989
World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...
where she was defeated in the preliminary round by Linda Beaver. She finished runner-up to Lillian Skears in the 1995 Klondike Open and repeated the result to Lorraine Colenutt in the 1996 contest. In 1997, King paired with Kim Whaley to win the women's doubles events of the Klondike Open, adding to a success in the tournament's ladies' cricket pairs division with Terry Towey in 1995. Two years later she won the women's singles and the ladies' doubles of the Manitoba Open and the Saskatoon Open ladies' pairs and ladies' cricket pairs with Laurie Court. King played in the 1997 WDF World Cup Ladies Pairs tournament in
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Australia with Patricia Farrell, where the duo lasted until the semi-finals. She also played for the Canadian national women's team. King went on to claim the singles, doubles and the mixed doubles divisions of the 2000 Canadian National Darts Championships, before she followed up with victories in the London Open in the singles and ladies pairs divisions, and that year's Ladies Canadian Open. She took a victory in the ladies cricket pairs and the mixed pairs divisions of the 2000 Klondike Open. King was runner-up to
Stacy Bromberg Stacy Bromberg (July 27, 1956 – February 12, 2017) was an American darts player who was a PDC Women's World Darts Champion. Bromberg was born in Los Angeles, and dominated the American darts circuit in the last decade through winning the US w ...
in that year's Windy City Open Ladies and reached the last 64 of the World Ladies Masters. She played in the 2000 BDO World Masters and reached the tournament's first round. After a PDC World Darts Championship play-off qualification round of eight women players due to be held in conjunction with the 2000 World Grand Prix tournament was cancelled, the
Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...
invited her to compete in the 2001 PDC World Darts Championship in
Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater ...
,
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
; it began in December 2000 and lasted until January 2001 and the PDC council allowed women to compete in the event. It telephoned King and she accepted their invitation. She became the first woman to participate in the PDC world championship. King lost her first round match 3–1 to the world number 29
Graeme Stoddart Graeme Stoddart (born 30 July 1959) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His nickname was Shark. Career Stoddart represented Holland in the 1984 European Cup. He came to pro ...
. Later in 2001, King reached the last 16 of the WDF World Cup Singles where she was defeated by Francis Hoenselaar. She won the Ladies Canadian Open and the Klondike Open twice more over the next four years in the singles divisions. King also played in the 2004 Las Vegas Desert Classic and had her final two professional matches at the 2005 and 2006 editions of the Vauxhall Open.


Post-darts career

She retired from competitive darts after a shoulder injury caused her to lose the endurance required to play in tournaments. King found employment at a cheese-making company working as an administrative assistant.


World Championship results


PDC

* 2001: First Round: (lost to
Graeme Stoddart Graeme Stoddart (born 30 July 1959) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. His nickname was Shark. Career Stoddart represented Holland in the 1984 European Cup. He came to pro ...
1–3) (sets)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Gayl 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Newfoundland and Labrador Female darts players Canadian darts players British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation associate players 20th-century Canadian sportswomen 21st-century Canadian sportswomen