Ted Hankey

Edward Hankey (born 20 February 1968) is an English former professional darts player.

Nicknamed "The Count", he won the BDO World Darts Championship in 2000, was runner-up in 2001, and won the title for a second time in 2009.

In the 2000 BDO World Darts Championship, after beating Bob Taylor, Steve Douglas, Kevin Painter and Chris Mason, Hankey whitewashed Ronnie Baxter 6–0 in the final, winning the match with a spectacular 170 checkout – the highest three-dart finish achievable.

The final lasted only 46 minutes, the shortest in the tournament's history.

In the semi-final v Chris Mason, he scored a championship record 22 x 180s in a match.

Hankey reached the final again in 2001, but lost to John Walton 6–2.

In 2002, he was knocked out in the second round by Wayne Jones and suffered a first round exit in 2003 to 'Silverback' Tony O'Shea.

Ranked number two for the 2004 tournament, he was defeated in the quarter-finals, again losing to O'Shea 5–1.

This was a huge disappointment for a man who had won four Open events that year.

Hankey again reached the quarter-finals in 2005, this time falling to England captain Martin Adams 5–3, despite at one stage in the contest having led by 3–1 in sets.

In the 2006 tournament, Hankey had an uncharacteristic "bad day at the office", crashing out at the first hurdle to Dutchman Albertino Essers.

Seeded eighth for the 2007 BDO World Darts Championship, he defeated Mario Robbe of the Netherlands by 3–0 in the opening round.

He then hit another 170 checkout in his tight 4–3 victory over qualifier Davy Richardson, before losing to Adams, again by 5–3, although he had several darts to remain in the match.

Despite this setback, Hankey remained positive and upbeat about his darts future after the game.

Hankey won his first round match of the 2008 BDO World Championship over Steve West 3–2.

He twice found himself behind in the match, recovering from 1–0 and 2–1 down to win the final two sets in succession.

Afterwards, Hankey attributed his erratic form to a minority of the crowd which had jeered him throughout the match.

Despite this, his campaign for a second BDO world crown remained on course as he defeated Andy Boulton in the second round.

He then lost in the quarter-finals to Australian Simon Whitlock 0–5.

Again, he expressed his disaffection with elements of the crowd for displaying poor order during the game.

Midway through the contest, however, Hankey himself had received a warning from match referee Barry Gilbey, for punching the dartboard as this was deemed unsporting and contrary to the tournament promoter's code of conduct.

After the match, an emotional Hankey informed the BBC's Ray Stubbs that he was considering quitting the game and needed to assess his future.

The following day, however, he clarified his future plans in a frank BBC interview with Stubbs and Bobby George.

Although hugely disappointed with his performance against Whitlock, he indicated that his future still lay in darts and vowed to return after a month-long sabbatical, during which time he was to work on and refine a number of fundamentals to his game.

However, controversy continued to follow Hankey during the BDO International Open (formerly the England Open) on 15 June 2008.

During a quarter-final match with former PDC player Robbie Green, Hankey complained about the air conditioning being turned on.

However, Hankey requested the air conditioning be turned off, as his much lighter darts were affected mid-flight, causing them to drift.

This caused yet another erratic reaction from Hankey who threw his darts onto the board without much thought.

Commentator David Croft labelled Hankey's latest antics as 'ridiculous'.

Hankey went on to lose the match 2–1 in sets in the deciding leg.

(The next highest are 15 and 14, which he also holds, in matches v Tony O'Shea in the final and Martin Adams in the semi-finals respectively, both in 2009.) He also scored a record 48 x 180s during the 2000 tournament.

After this Hankey went through a fairly barren spell at the Lakeside and did not reach another major final or World Championship semi-final until his victory in the 2009 BDO World Championships.

He achieved the 9-Darter in the Scottish open 2011.

He moved to the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) tour in 2012, but suffered a stroke while playing Michael van Gerwen at the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts, and took three months away from the sport to recuperate.

He lost his PDC tour card in 2014, when he was 94th in the world rankings.

He returned to the BDO, where he failed to impress in the latter years of his playing career.

In 2016, he made his last appearance in the BDO World Darts Championship, exiting after a 3–0 first-round defeat.

Hankey struggled financially in his later career and was declared bankrupt in 2018.

In September 2021, he sexually assaulted a girl who was aged over 16 but under 18 at the time.

After pleading guilty, he was sentenced in May 2022 to two years in prison and placed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.