James Hubbard (born 24 July 1992) is an English former professional

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 ...

player.

Career

Hubbard reached the final of the 2012 PDC World Youth Championship. He beat

Michael van Gerwen Michael van Gerwen (; born 25 April 1989) is a Dutch professional darts player, who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, where is currently ranked PDC Order of Merit, world number three; he was ranked world number one from 20 ...

in the final at the

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on 17 May 2012. As a result of reaching the final, he received a

PDC Pro Tour The PDC Pro Tour is a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). They comprise Professional Dart Players Association (PDPA) Players Championships and European Tour events. Only four players ...

card for 2012. Hubbard's title also earned him an invitation to the

2011 Grand Slam of Darts The 2011 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts, was the fifth staging of the darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 12–20 November 2011 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. F ...

. He lost against Phil Taylor, Mervyn King and

Steve Beaton Steve Beaton (born 5 April 1964) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. Nicknamed "the Bronzed Adonis", Beaton formerly formerly competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO), World Dart ...

in the group stage. In May 2012, Hubbard earned a place in the German Darts Championship by defeating Andrew Gilding and Kevin Dowling in the UK qualifier. In the first round of the event in

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he pulled off the best result of his career to date by knocking out reigning two-time world champion

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

6–4. He continued his run by defeating Peter Wright in round two, before losing to his practice partner Mervyn King 6–4 in the last 16. Hubbard also qualified for the third European Tour event, the European Darts Open in

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. He beat

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, West London. He was educa ...

in the first round, and Steve Brown in the second. After defeating Mark Walsh 6–3 in the last 16, a result which secured his qualification for the 2012 World Matchplay, Hubbard shed tears of joy on the stage. He then lost to

Richie Burnett Richard Mark Burnett (born 7 February 1967), nicknamed Prince of Wales, is a Welsh professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He was formerly ranked BDO world number one. ...

6–2 in the quarter-finals. Hubbard played

Wes Newton Wesley Newton (born 27 August 1977) is an English professional darts player. Darts career Newton's first PDC major was the 2003 UK Open where he lost 8–6 to Mark Thomson in the last 32. He was beaten in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne Op ...

in the first round of the World Matchplay and was beaten 10–5. In October, he saw off

Denis Ovens Denis Ovens (born 1 July 1957) is an English former professional darts player. He is nicknamed "The Heat" and is now based in Stevenage. Ovens is regarded as one of the most consistent players in the circuit, though he has as yet failed to c ...

6–2 in the opening round of the Dutch Darts Masters, before losing 6–4 to

Andy Jenkins Andrew Jenkins (born 11 March 1971) is an English former professional darts player who competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was nicknamed "Rocky" due to his rough personality. Jenkins has reached high rankings in the PDC ...

. Hubbard qualified for the

Grand Slam of Darts The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC used to invite the best performing players from its rival, the Briti ...

again thanks to his 2011 World Youth Championship title, but lost all of three Group C games against

Simon Whitlock Simon Whitlock (born 3 March 1969) is an Australian professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events, having previously competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. Nicknamed "The Wizard", he won th ...

Dean Winstanley Dean Winstanley (born 10 February 1981) is an English professional darts player. He first took up darts as a two-year-old, stopped playing at the age of 12, and then started playing again when he was 22. He turned professional in 2008 and won ...

and

Kevin Painter Kevin Painter (born 12 July 1967) is an English former professional darts player who competes in World Seniors Darts (WSD) events. He competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) tournaments from 1992 to 2001, before switching to the Profession ...

to finish bottom of the table. Hubbard qualified for the 2013 World Championship, his first, by finishing 34th on the 2012 ProTour Order of Merit, claiming the fourth of sixteen spots that were available to non-qualified players. He lost the opening six legs of his first round match against

to be two sets down, but with the crowd heavily favouring Hubbard, Burnett's form dropped substantially and Hubbard was able to level the match at 2–2. However, the Welshman's experience eventually told as he took the deciding set by four legs to two. Hubbard was ranked world number 52 after the event. He lost 5–3 to Andy Smith in the second round of the

UK Open The Ladbrokes UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. The event is often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts" as it has an unseeded open dr ...

. He had a disappointing year overall as he could not win beyond the last 32 of any ranking tournament. Hubbard advanced to the third round of the

for the second time of his career in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, but was thrashed 9–1 by world number one

. At the fifth Players Championship, Hubbard enjoyed notable 6–0 and 6–4 victories over

and Van Gerwen in reaching his first semi-final on the PDC tour, which he lost 6–1 to

Brendan Dolan Brendan Gabriel Dolan (born 2 August 1973) is a Northern Irish professional darts player who competes in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He was the first player to hit a nine-dart finish in a "double-to-start" event (where a pla ...

. Hubbard won the eighth Youth Tour event of the year by beating Reece Robinson 4–2 in the final. Hubbard was ranked world number 74 at the start of 2015, meaning he had to enter Q School in order to win his place back on tour. However, he was unable to progress past the last 64 on any of the four days to fall short of earning a new tour card. Hubbard failed to qualify for the

, but played in all 32 of the Challenge and Development Tour tournaments, reaching one quarter-final in the final Development Tour event where he was knocked out 4–3 by

Josh Payne Joshua James Payne (born 25 November 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Beaconsfield Town. He has previously played for West Ham United, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers, Doncaster Rovers, Oxford ...

. The only European Tour event he reached was the European Darts Trophy, where he lost 6–1 to Rowby-John Rodriguez in the first round. In 2016, Hubbard played in all 19 of the Development Tour events, recording two quarter-final and two semi-final finishes. He qualified for the European Darts Grand Prix but could only average 75.22 during a 6–2 first round loss to Max Hopp.

Practice

Hubbard practices and travels with the 2004

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 ...

champion Mervyn King, who has tipped Hubbard as a player to watch in years to come. These sentiments were echoed by

who practiced with Hubbard before the

2012 Grand Slam of Darts The 2012 William Hill Grand Slam of Darts, was the sixth staging of the tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 10–18 November 2012 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. Phil ...

World Championship results

PDC

* 2013: First round (lost to

2–3)

Personal life

Hubbard is the son of former PDC professional player Vic Hubbard. When not playing darts, Hubbard works as a decorator with his father and as a tipster for BettingLounge.co.uk.

References

External links

Management Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, James 1992 births Living people English darts players People from Wymondham Professional Darts Corporation former tour card holders PDC world youth champions