Stephen Bunting
Encyclopedia
Stephen Bunting is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 player who competes for the British Darts Organisation
British Darts Organisation
The British Darts Organisation, or the BDO for short, is a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft, OBE. The BDO is a founder member of the World Darts Federation which was formed in 1976....

. His nickname is The Bullet. He is currently sponsored by GT Law Solicitors and A180 DARTS.

Bunting won both the British Teenage Open and the World Youth Masters in 2001 and also captured the WDF Europe Youth Cup in 2002. He made his BDO World Darts Championship
BDO World Darts Championship
The BDO World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the British Darts Organisation . It began in 1978, and was the only world championship tournament until 1994...

 debut in 2004 aged just 18, where he beat Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort
Vincent van der Voort is a professional darts player.-Playing style:Vincent is well known for his spasmodic style and machine-gun speed of play which has gained him a reputation in both the BDO and the PDC for being one of the more erratic throwers in the darting world...

 in the first round before losing in the second round to former World Champion Ted Hankey
Ted Hankey
Edward "Ted" Hankey is an English darts player who is a two-time BDO World Professional Darts Champion. His nickname is The Count and his walk on music is Be On Your Way by DJ Zany. Hankey built up a large following due to his obsession with and resemblance to Dracula...

. He returned to Lakeside in 2005 but was beaten in the first round by John Henderson
John Henderson (darts player)
John Henderson is a Scottish darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation events.-Darts career:Henderson briefly played in the Professional Darts Corporation, playing one tournament in Scotland and then the 2003 UK Open where he lost in the first round having won his Preliminary match...

.

In 2008 Bunting won the Lytham St Annes Open and was also recalled to the England squad. In July 2008 he reached the quarter-finals of the BDO British Classic where he lost to Scotland's Ross Montgomery
Ross Montgomery
Ross Montgomery is a Scottish darts player who plays for the British Darts Organisation. His nickname is The Boss.-Darts career:...

 live on Setanta. In November 2008 Bunting captured his maiden BDO ranked open title when he won the Northern Ireland Open, beating fellow Cheshire player Darryl Fitton
Darryl Fitton
Darryl Fitton is an English professional darts player currently playing in BDO events. He is nicknamed The Dazzler and comes to the stage dancing to the Madness song "One Step Beyond" wearing sunglasses. It is one of the most popular walk-ons with the audience...

 two sets to nil in the Final.

Bunting was successful in qualifying for the 2009 BDO World Darts Championship
2009 BDO World Darts Championship
The 2009 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 32nd World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation. Mark Webster was the defending men's champion having won the title for the first time in last year's final against Simon Whitlock, but he was eliminated convincingly...

 as the standby qualifier, but was beaten by Gary Robson in the first round.

On 21 May 2009 Bunting finished joint fourth in the Dutch Pentathlon. The pentathlon had a field of 20 top BDO and PDC players and was won by Gary Anderson with Scott Waites 2nd and Gary Robson 3rd. It was played in Oosterhout Holland. Other players at this event were Tony Eccles
Tony Eccles
Tony Eccles is a Winmau sponsored darts player currently residing in Hartlepool. He uses the nickname The Viper.-BDO career:...

, Darryl Fitton
Darryl Fitton
Darryl Fitton is an English professional darts player currently playing in BDO events. He is nicknamed The Dazzler and comes to the stage dancing to the Madness song "One Step Beyond" wearing sunglasses. It is one of the most popular walk-ons with the audience...

, Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch professional darts player, nicknamed Mighty Mike. He is the youngest player in history to win a major televised tournament in either the BDO or the PDC, winning the 2006 Winmau World Masters at the age of 17...

, Tony West
Tony West
Anthony Shaun West is an English professional darts player who competes in British Darts Organisation tournaments.-Wins:...

 and Co Stompe
Co Stompé
Jacobus Wilhelm "Co" Stompé , is a Dutch professional darts player who currently plays in the Professional Darts Corporation. Stompé is nicknamed The Matchstick because of his almost bald head and very thin appearance making him look like a matchstick...

 to name a few.

A link to the final table can be found here: http://pentathlon.deschoen.nl/images/einduitslag.bmp

Bunting competed in the Winmau British Classic on 25 July 2009. He played some great darts throughout the day and in reaching the semifinal stage he beat Dave Chisnall 2 sets to 0.
In the final Stephen played Scott Waites, where he came out the eventual winner 2 sets to 1 with a 170 finish in the fifth leg.

Bunting qualified for the 2010 BDO World Championship
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 having won the title for the second time in the...

, beating the debuting Ian White 3-0 in the first round before losing to #1 seed Tony O'Shea
Tony O'Shea
Tony O'Shea is an English darts player who competes in British Darts Organisation events. He was born in Stockport. His squat figure has resulted in the nickname Silverback. His walk-on music is "Hey Baby" by DJ Ötzi...

 4-0 in the second round, having had darts to win the first set. The following year
2011 BDO World Darts Championship
The 2011 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 34th World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 26th staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green...

, Bunting once again qualified and won his first round match 3-0, this time against Brian Woods
Brian Woods
Brian Woods is a BAFTA award-winning British documentary film-maker, who founded and currently runs True Vision, an independent production company, which concentrates mainly on human rights-related subjects...

 with the tournament highest average of 94.62. Bunting then defeated heavy favourite Scott Waites
Scott Waites
Scott Waites is an English professional darts player who plays in tournaments organised by the British Darts Organisation.-Darts career:...

 in the second round 4-2 averaging 89.79 to reached his first World Championship quarter-final, where he was beaten 5-1 by third seed Dean Winstanley
Dean Winstanley
Dean Winstanley is an English darts player.Winstanley won the German Open, England Open, and Belgium Open in 2010. As a result of his performances on the BDO circuit, he qualified for the 2010 Winmau World Masters as the fourth seed...

 in a great game with both players averaging over the 90 mark.

September 2011 seen Bunting reach the Quarter finals of the Winmau World Masters Live on ESPN. Bunting had been playing all morning to fight through to the live televised stages and in the deciding match Bunting defeated Wayne Warren in which was a magnificent game. Bunting was into the last 32 and played Peter Johns from Wales. Bunting won 3-0 in sets and set up a mouth watering last 16 match with his close freind and fellow scouser Robbie Green. In the last 16 Bunting lost the first set but found his feet and speed along with his high scoring in the next few sets and eventually came out on top with a great 3 sets to 1 victory with an impressive 30.33 average. In the Quarter Finals Bunting failed to find his form from the previous round and crashed out 3 sets to nil to a steady Ross montgomery.

On 30th September 2011 Bunting played in the England Classic at Bunn Leisure, Selsey. Bunting was last years champion and his intentions were to try and retain the title. Bunting started the day with a 3-0 win over Steve gurney, followed up by a 3-0 win over Mark Davis. In the last 64 Bunting played on the live internet lane and defeated Trevor Chant 3-0. In the Last 32 Bunting beat clive Barden 3-2 in which bunting was 2-0 down. Last 16 saw Bunting play back on the live internet lane and defeat Sam Rooney 3-0. Quarter finals and bunting defeated Dean Jones 4-0. Semi final and Bunting was back on the stage where he took the title the previous year. in the semi final bunting defeated Tony Andrews 5-1 with an impresive 30.27 average. In the final Bunting defeated Jamie Robinson 6-3 with a 29.10 average. Bunting won the £2,500 first prize for the second time.

On 22nd October 2011 Bunting won his first European event at the Tops of Ghent tournament in Belgium. Bunting has came close to winning on european soil before having been runner up at the German and Polish opens but has always been the bridesmaid and never the bride before this weekend. In the last 256 Bunting defeated Billy Caluwaerts (Bel) 4-2. Having marked after winning the first game Stephen knew that he had a tough game next as the guy he marked for would be his next opponent Marcel Blik (NL) and he played unbelievable. Stephen was marked his 4 nil victory and marched straight back to the practice board to prepare for the tussle. Bunting found his form in the last 128 when he really needed it and came out 4-1 winner over Marcel Blik (NL). In the last 64 Bunting played his Lancashire county team mate Gary Hooper and edged him 4-2 in a closely contested tie. In the last 32 Bunting played another Lancashire county team mate and newly crowned Romanian open Champion Joe murnan. Bunting edged out Joe 4-3 in a great match which seen Bunting finish the last leg in 13 darts. The last 16 was upon him and Bunting had played well all day. He knew that if the form continued that he stood a great chance of winning the title. In the last 16 Bunting played Martin Atkins 'The Assassin' who is a regular in the BDO World Championships. Bunting threw the big 180 scores and hit his doubles first time of asking to record a 4-1 victory. In the quarter Finals Bunting played Christian kist who has just qualified for the 2012 Lakeside World Championships. Bunting won the tie 5-1 to gain a place in the Semi Finals. In the semi final Bunting played Darryl Fitton, Bunting's favourite player. Bunting ran out a 2 sets victor in a game which saw Bunting finish 160 first leg. Darryl never really got into the flow of things and bunting took full advantage, wrapping up the game in super quick time to book his place in the final. In the final Bunting played Steve West, and again Bunting was on form. Bunting took the title 3-0 (2-3; 2-3; 1-3) in sets. Bunting took the €1600 prize money and recorded his first European win. For full results http://www.internationalbelgiumdartstour.be/Uitslagen_TOG_2011.htm

External links

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