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| |  Saturday, 20 July, 2002, 22:15 GMT 23:15 UK Hope springs eternal in Frimley Green Adams has had some epic matches down the years By Clive Downton The battle to compete on the globe's biggest darts stage in 2003 will start in earnest within weeks of the 2002 Embassy World Championship finishing - and the names Martin Adams and Colin Monk may just as well be chalked up now! While others make their Lakeside bow, Englishmen Adams and Monk will have been toeing the famous oche for the ninth year in a row. Like many before them, the historic Embassy trophy has become a Holy Grail and neither player looks like giving up until they have held it aloft. Even though many top class players have come so close so many times before them and failed, they will not be deterred. Stars of the oche like Welshman Alan Evans, Sweden's Stefan Lord, Dave Whitcome, Tony Brown, Cliff Lazarenko, Bobby George and Mike Gregory of England have all failed at the final or semi-final hurdle more times than they care to remember.
"It was such a buzz up on the stage that I just had to travel around Europe during the year to get enough ranking points to get back. "I remember watching the Embassy on telly with my mum. It was brilliant but I never thought then that I would actually be part of it." A place in the final or semi-final will give Monk an automatic spot in 2003 but, if he fails to get that far, his suitcases will be packed for many weekends as he goes in search of ranking points abroad. Global companions Monk, though, may well have Adams as a travelling partner. A similar outcome for the England captain will see the professional player back on the circuit for points. Adams has been involved in more epics than most in his nine years at Frimley Green - a semi-final clash with Raymond Barneveld in 1995 and a classic quarter-final battle with Chris Mason in 1999 will go down in history. Adams was 36 before making it to the big time in darts and at 45, reckons it is time he took the trophy back to Cambridgeshire. "Without doubt it is the big one," he says. "I used to watch this on TV and went to Jollees with a neighbour to watch it in the early days. "The one thing that sticks out in my mind is being told I was in the Embassy for the first time. "I was sitting by a pool in Las Vegas when I was told and it was the greatest moment of my life to that point." | |
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