Most wins of the British Darts Organisation
(BDO) Women’s World Championships
With her 3–2 victory over Deta Hedman (UK,
b. JAM) at the Lakeside Country Club in
Frimley Green, Surrey, UK, on 9 Jan 2016,
Trina “Golden Girl” Gulliver (UK) claimed her
10th BDO women’s world title. Her wins included
the first seven championships held, in 2001–07.Most continents in which an
individual has won an Olympic medal
Double trap and skeet shooter Kim Rhode (USA)
won her sixth Olympic medal at Rio 2016. She
has won medals on five continents: Australia,
North and South America, Asia and Europe.Most Horseshoe Pitching
World Championships (male)
Alan Francis (USA) won his 21st title in the
men’s division at the Horseshoe Pitching World
Championships in 2016. His closest rival, Ted
Allen (USA), won his 10th and final title in 1959.Target Sports
SPORTS
FIRST
INDEPENDENT
OLYMPIAN TO
WIN A GOLD MEDAL
Following his
country’s suspension
by the International
Olympic Committee,
Kuwaiti soldier Fehaid
Al-Deehani competed
at Rio 2016 as part
of the Independent
Olympic Athletes
team. He won gold
in the men’s double
trap shooting on
10 Aug 2016, beating
Marco Innocenti (ITA)
26–24 in the final. His
compatriot Abdullah
Al-Rashidi won
bronze in the men’s
skeet, also competing
as an independent.Snooker player Mark King (UK) won his first ranking title at the
Northern Ireland Open in Nov 2016 – after 25 years of trying.MOST CENTURY
BREAKS IN A
SNOOKER WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP
MATCH
During his World
Championship semi-
final match against
Alan McManus (UK) at
the Crucible Theatre
in Sheffield, UK, on
28–30 Apr 2016, Ding
Junhui (CHN) rattled
in seven centuries in
a virtuoso display of
break-building. He
won the match 17–11,
but went on to lose
in the final against
Mark Selby (UK).MOST POINTS SCORED IN 70 M
72-ARROW OUTDOOR RECURVE (MALE)
On 5 Aug 2016, Kim Woo-jin (KOR) scored 700 out
of a possible 720 points at the Sambódromo in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Using a recurve bow with
curved limbs, he beat the previous record set by
Im Dong-hyun (KOR) at London 2012 by a single
point. Kim set his mark in the ranking round of
the men’s individual event, only to suffer a shock
second-round defeat to Riau Ega Agatha (IDN).Most professional snooker
matches played by an individual
Over the course of a glittering career that saw
him win six World Championships, Steve Davis
(UK) played 1,453 professional matches between
his 1978 debut and his retirement in 2016.Most wins of the Masters snooker
On 22 Jan 2017, Ronnie O’Sullivan (UK) defeated
Joe Perry (UK) 10–7 in the final of the Masters
invitational snooker tournament at Alexandra
Palace in London, UK. It was the seventh time
that “The Rocket” had won the event – following
wins in 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014 and 2016- one more than Stephen Hendry (UK).
Most World Croquet Championships
appearances by an individual
Three players have each made 14 appearances at
croquet’s blue-riband event: Robert Fulford (UK,
in 1989–2013), Stephen Mulliner (UK, in 1989–
2016) and David Openshaw (UK, in 1989–2016).Highest earnings in a Professional
Bowlers Association ten-pin
bowling career
Walter Ray Williams Jr (USA)
made career earnings of
$4,638,519 (£3,576,290)
between 1980 and 2016.In 2 008,
a project was
set up to teach
Bolivian bowlers the
two-handed style. The
scheme was a notable
success, with teams
winning competitions
in Argentina and
Brazil.HIGHEST MATCH
AVERAGE IN A PREMIER
LEAGUE DARTS MATCH
In beating Michael Smith (UK) in Aberdeen,
UK, on 25 Feb 2016, Michael van Gerwen (NLD)
achieved a three-dart average of 123.4.
On 1 Jan 2017, he also recorded the
highest match average at the PDC World
Championships: 114.05, during his semi-final in
London, UK. Van Gerwen’s opponent, Raymond
van Barneveld (NLD), lost with a match average
of 109.34 – the fourth-highest ever at the event!YOUNGEST TEN-PIN BOWLER
TO WIN A MAJOR PROFESSIONAL
BOWLERS ASSOCIATION TITLE
Anthony Simonsen (USA, b. 6 Jan 1997)
was aged just 19 years 39 days when
he won the 2016 United States
Bowling Congress (USBC) Masters at
Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis, USA.
Simonsen, noted for his two-handed
bowling delivery (see left), defeated
amateur Dan MacLelland (CAN)
245–207 in the final, hitting strikes
with eight of his first nine shots.Van Gerwen
started playing darts
regularly aged 1 3.
Within two years, he
was European Youth
Champion.