World Darts Federation

The World Darts Federation (WDF) is the official world sport governing body[1][2] and (along with the PDC) tournament organiser for the game of darts. It was formed in 1974, by representatives of the original fourteen founding members.[2] Membership is open to the national organizing body for darts in all nations. The WDF encourages the promotion of the sport of darts among and between those bodies, in an effort to gain international recognition for darts as a major sport. The WDF is a full member of SportAccord, which is the governing body for international sports federations.

Logo of the World Darts Federation

The WDF stages a world championship (called the WDF World Cup), as well as continental championships such as the WDF Americas Cup, the WDF Asia-Pacific Cup and the WDF Europe Cup. The country that is first in the overall leader board (overall best result in the two events, singles, pairs, teams) becomes the world champion. Winners of any of the events can also call themselves the official World Champion. Winners of continental championships can call themselves the official champion of their own areas.

One of its associate member organisations is the BDO, the unofficial darts governing body in Britain. The BDO stages the Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship every January, which is now no longer a recognized WDF Major tournament.[3]

Members

70 national members:[4]

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Bermuda
  • Brazil
  • Brunei
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada
  • Catalonia
  • Cayman Islands
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Egypt
  • England
  • Ethiopia
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Guyana
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Iran
  • Isle of Man
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Jersey
  • Korea
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Northern Ireland
  • Nepal
  • Nigeria
  • Norway
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Rep. of Ireland
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Scotland
  • Serbia
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • St. Lucia
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • Turkey
  • Turks & Caicos
  • USA
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • Wales

As from December 2019 the British Darts Organisation (BDO), which was the official darts body for Britain, the leading darts country, has been downgraded by the WDF to "associate member", and their tournaments will no longer be recognised.[5] It is one of two rival British darts organisations, the other being the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which runs its own world championship.

The WDF Rankings, as defined by the World Darts Federation, are the "objective merit-based method used for determining qualification for entry and seeding in all of its tournaments for both male and female singles, pairs and team". The rankings tables are "rolling tables", and points from an event are counted until that event occurs the following year. If a particular event does not occur in the following year, points are deleted after a calendar year.[6]

Tournament levels and points allocation

A player's WDF Ranking is based on the total points they have accrued over the previous 12 month period that run from December to December according to the tournament schedule[7] from the following 85 tournaments:

  • The five World Darts Federation Major tournaments.
  • The thirteen World Darts Federation Category One tournaments.
  • The twenty seven World Darts Federation Category Two tournaments.
  • The thirty eight World Darts Federation Category Three tournaments.
  • The four Major international events WDF World Cup (singles, pairs, team), WDF Americas Cup (singles, pairs, team), WDF Europe Cup(singles, pairs, team) and WDF Asia-Pacific Cup(singles, pairs, team).

Ranking method

Since the formation of the WDF rankings in 1974 the method used to calculate a player's ranking points has changed several times. Notes: The WDF international tournaments have six categories for both men and women (singles, pairs and teams)

Current points distribution

Points are currently awarded as follows:

Tournament categoryWFSFQFR16R32R64R128
WDF Major tournaments18012010060301584
WDF Category One tournaments150100804824126
WDF Category Two tournaments1208060361894
WDF Category Three tournaments906040241263
WDF Major international tournaments18012010060301584
WDF international tournaments150100804824126

Current WDF World Rankings

The rankings are based on a cumulative points system similar to ATP Rankings in tennis they are done on a rolling one year basis. When a tournament is played, the previous year's results are removed from the rankings. This list is used to determine seeds for some of the WDF Opens. The World Darts Federation also have a ranking system designed to provide a measure of the global activities of darts players in every WDF recognised darts event. It used to be very similar to the BDO system but was revised in January 2007 to include categories by country and by events, and the distribution of ranking points reflect the levels of prize money on offer and the numbers of entries in a tournament. Therefore, the WDF World Rankings give a better reflection on BDO player world ranking. The leading players gain points in different levels of categorized events and prize money and at the end of the season the leading players receive monetary bonus rewards from the WDF.[8]

gollark: !anon halt 319753218592866315
gollark: !obliterate LyricLy
gollark: ++remind 1h test.
gollark: I see.
gollark: If someone associates you with a username, you can now do nothing.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.