Darts (player championships)

THE world's best darts players will return to
Doncaster later this year, after the PDC confirmed that the Players
Championship Finals will be held at The Dome from December 1-4.

The
Dome staged the four-day, £250,000 tournament in February as 32 players
battled for the £60,000 first prize, which was eventually taken by Phil
Taylor with a narrow 13-12 defeat of Gary Anderson in the final.

The
success of February's tournament has seen the Professional Darts
Corporation confirm that the event's next staging will be held back in
Doncaster.

The Players Championship Finals will be brought
forward by two months in the calendar, to follow hot on the heels of the
final qualifying Players Championships, which will be held the previous
weekend in Wigan.

Professional players such as Taylor, Anderson,
three-time World Champion John Part and current World Champion Adrian
Lewis will compete in 31 Players Championships around the world during
the course of 2011, with the top 32 performers qualifying to compete in
the Finals in Doncaster.

"The Players Championship Finals have
gone from strength to strength since the first event was held in January
2009," said PDC Chairman Barry Hearn.

"Phil Taylor and Paul
Nicholson were deserving winners in the first two years, and Phil
performed brilliantly in the final against Gary Anderson this February
to reclaim the title.

"The event is all about seeing the form
players from the PDC ProTour circuit coming together in a major event,
and by bringing the tournament forward to December this will capture the
players in their peak."

Nicholson, who did not qualify to defend
his title this year after finishing 33rd in the 2010 Players
Championship, has already earned his place in December's event after
winning three tournaments so far this year.

Mexborough's two-time
World Champion Dennis Priestley and fellow Yorkshiremen Mark Lawrence,
Darren Johnson and Chris Thompson are all battling to be amongst the
qualifiers as they continue to compete on the PDC circuit, with the next
events being held in Nuland on June 18 & 19.

Tickets for
December's Players Championship Finals are expected to go on sale later
in the summer, and information will be available at www.pdc.tv.