Darts favourite Mikuru Suzuki won her maiden match at the inaugural WDF World Darts Championship hours after she handed over her old BDO title.
'Miracle' was the last woman to win the BDO World Darts Championship in 2020—her second successive title—before the British Darts Organisation went into liquidation later that year. She beat Laura Turner 2-0 in the first round of the new competition on Sunday despite the likely distraction caused by having to hand over her former crown.
Former BDO chairman Des Jacklin—whose wife, Paula, lost to Rhian O'Sullivan in the first round at Lakeside on Saturday—was in attendance to take home the trophy. However, contrary to rumours circulating on social media, police were not called to take possession of the silverware.
"The police were not involved," read a statement from the World Darts Federation. "Des Jacklin requested the trophy for the BDO and an agreement was made between Suzuki’s management team and Des Jacklin and the trophy was handed to Des. No one else was involved."
The development means Jacklin is one step closer to completing the set of BDO trophies he's been attempting to recoup for more than a year. It was reported in October 2020 that the former organisation chief was threatening legal action against John O'Shea unless he returned the BDO World Masters title he won in 2019.
Jacklin made headlines in February last year after he made a 430-mile round trip from Lincolnshire to Pontypridd to recover the BDO World Darts Championship from 2020 men's winner, Wayne Warren, during lockdown. Warren was defiant in his attempts to keep the trophy after his tournament winnings were slashed by 77 per cent to just £23,000 due to worse-than-expected TV revenue, sponsorship and ticket sales.
Suzuki's relinquishing of her prize appears to have been a more harmonious incident, however, with police not required to intervene this time around. What's more, Jacklin took to social media and alleged the Lakeside handover was successfully negotiated in 2021.
"Everyone loves a good story even if it's fake," the controversial businessman wrote via Facebook. "Six months ago it was agreed that the Ladies trophy would be returned at Lakeside 2022. Today after lunch it was returned. No hassle NO POLICE ATTENDED. As confirmed by WDF. Just more troublemakers and wanna be (sic) journalists who started it. Dying for a story. STILL. . .it's open season on us again."
At the time that Warren's trophy was seized by police in 2021, Jacklin insisted the law was on his side in attempting to recover any awarded silverware. "The Police found it to be unlawful for anyone to try and keep the property of the BDO, this is the same for ANY Trophy unreturned," he said on Facebook at the time.
Darts News reported the trophies "may be needed to pay off any debts" the BDO has withstanding. The amateur and semi-professional darts organisation was in operation for 47 years before it was liquidated in September 2020, having accrued losses totalling a reported £468,000 in its final financial year.
Two-time champion Suzuki will hope to put any distractions to one side as she seeks to become the WDF's first women's World Darts Championship-winner. Including her back-to-back victories in the now-defunct BDO tournament, she could become the first woman to win three straight titles at this level since Trina Gulliver won seven in a row between 2001 and 2007.
The fan favourite scored a straight-sets win over Turner in her curtain-raiser despite averaging just 74 on the night. Her last-16 opponent will be fourth seed Aileen de Graaf, who featured in the final eight of the BDO World Darts Championship in six straight editions before it was scrapped from the calendar.
