Martin Atkins (born 24 December 1965) is an English professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the ...

player. His nickname is The Assassin.

Career

Atkins has been a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

county player since 1996 and has represented the England national side in many occasions including 3 times in the Six Nations, winning all three, and once in the World Cup in 2011, contributing to England's best performance since 1995. He reached the last 16 of the BDO World Professional Darts Championship in both 2006 and 2007. In 2006 he led Martin Adams 3–0 and had a match dart in the fifth leg of the fifth set, but ultimately lost 4–3. The following year, he was beaten by eventual finalist Phill Nixon

He was seeded number 10 for the

2008 BDO World Darts Championship The 2008 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 31st World Championship staged by the British Darts Organisation and was held between 5–13 January 2008 at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey. Martin Adams att ...

. However, he lost in the first round to Andy Boulton. The following year, unseeded, Atkins won his first round match 3–2 against Joey ten Berge before losing to Gary Robson 4–1. Seeded number 10 for the

2010 BDO World Darts Championship The 2010 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 33rd World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 25th staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green. Ted Hankey was the defending men's champion ...

, Atkins suffered another first round exit after he was defeated by Lakeside debutant Paul Carter 3–1. In 2011, Atkins was drawn against third seed and eventual runner-up

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 ...

in the first round, and lost 3–2 having missed two match darts in the fourth set. Atkins finally progressed past the second-round stage of the World Championship when, in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, he defeated 7th seed John Walton and 10th seed

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en route to a quarter-final match against Ted Hankey where he lost 5–1. In 2012, Atkins won the biggest title of his career so far by winning the BDO British Open, beating

Robbie Green Robbie Green (born 19 July 1974) is a former English professional darts player. His nickname was Kong. PDC career Green made his televised debut at the 2004 UK Open, reaching the last 64 stage. The same year he qualified for the World Matchp ...

in the final. However, his season ended in disappointment when he lost in the first round of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Jason Cullen Jason Cullen (born 11 June 1988) is an Irish professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation events. Darts career Cullen has represented the Republic of Ireland in the WDF Europe Cup Youth in 2004 and was ...

. Atkins was unseeded for the 2014 World Championship and faced eighth seed Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round. Despite competing with an elbow injury sustained on New Year's Day, and despite de Graaf throwing for two of the sets, Atkins won the match 3–0, finishing with a 135 checkout on the bullseye. However, Atkins had to withdraw during his second round match against Rick Hofstra while trailing 2–0 in sets.

PDC

Announced on 9 December 2017, he will be joining the rival organisation 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 ...

for the first time in his career. He has played most of the BDO tour but has decided to give the PDC tour a go for the first time after playing his whole career in the BDO.

BDO

As of May 2018, it would seem he returned to the BDO circuit due to an unsuccessful run on the PDC circuit.

World Championship results

BDO

* 2005: 1st round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3) * 2006: 2nd round (lost to Martin Adams 3–4) * 2007: 2nd round (lost to Phil Nixon 1–4) * 2008: 1st round (lost to Andy Boulton 2–3) * 2009: 2nd round (lost to Gary Robson 1–4) * 2010: 1st round (lost to Paul Carter 1–3) * 2011: 1st round (lost to

2–3) * 2012: Quarter-final (lost to Ted Hankey 1–5) * 2013: 1st round (lost to

1–3) * 2014: 2nd round (withdrew while trailing Rick Hofstra 0–2) * 2016: 2nd round (lost to Richard Veenstra 0–4) * 2017: 1st round (lost to Jamie Hughes 1–3)

Performance timeline

References

External links

Official websiteProfile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Martin English darts players 1965 births Living people British Darts Organisation players Professional Darts Corporation associate players