SPONSORS' NINE-DARTER PLEDGE FOR PARKINSON'S UK AT WILLIAM HILL WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP
WILLIAM HILL are to make charity donations of £9,000 to Parkinson's UK for every nine-dart finish achieved at the 2016/2017 William Hill World Darts Championship.
It is the second time the company has pledged their support as part of the annual event at Alexandra Palace, London which will run from December 15 2016 to January 2 2017.
The extra boost will be the finale of a busy year for Parkinson's UK within the darts world, as they are also the official charity partner of tournament hosts, the Professional Darts Corporation.
Sky Sports Darts presenter and Parkinson's UK supporter Dave Clark said: "I was really pleased to hear that William Hill will once again be making a donation to Parkinson's UK for every nine-darter during the tournament.
"While nine-dart finishes are challenging, the odds of this happening during the William Hill World Championship are pretty good as we'll see the best players in the world competing.
"Thank you to William Hill and I look forward to seeing a great standard of darts again this year, with hopefully a few more players throwing nine perfect darts."
Volunteers for the Parkinson’s research and support charity will also be at the event, running a darts game and collecting donations in the Fans Village area.
Money raised will fund cutting-edge research, part of the PDC's "Targeting Parkinson's" campaign to help the charity get closer to a cure this Christmas.
"We're delighted to be supporting the PDC's official charity Parkinson’s UK," said David Lynn, Head of Sponsorship at William Hill.
"A nine-darter is one of the most spectacular sights in sport and we're hoping to see plenty of perfect games at this year's world championship."
There have been nine previous nine-dart finishes in the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, with Raymond van Barneveld hitting the first in 2009 and another in 2010.
Adrian Lewis then hit a perfect leg in the 2011 final against Gary Anderson, with Dean Winstanley and Michael van Gerwen achieving the feat two years later and the 2014 event seeing Terry Jenkins and Kyle Anderson land nine-darters within an hour of each other in a memorable afternoon.
Lewis hit a second perfect leg during the 2015 event, with Gary Anderson then recording his own nine-darter in last year's semi-final against Jelle Klaasen.
* The William Hill World Darts Championship will take place at Alexandra Palace, London from December 15-January 2, and will be shown live on the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel as part of a festive season which includes Premier League football, EFL and Test match cricket.