Leo Laurens

Leo Laurens (born 30 July 1952) is a Belgian former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) events. At the end of 1993, he was number one in the WDF world rankings after all of the BDO's top players broke away to form the World Darts Council (now the Professional Darts Corporation, PDC). Despite his new accolade, Laurens never won a major title.

Leo Laurens
Personal information
Nickname	"The Lion of Antwerp"
Born	(1952-07-30) 30 July 1952 Antwerp, Belgium
Home town	Itegem, Belgium
Darts information
Playing darts since	1972
Darts	21g
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Good Times" by Jimmy Barnes and INXS
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1988–1999
WDF major events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter Finals: 1997
World Masters	Last 32: 1988, 1993, 1995
Other tournament wins
Tournament	Years
Belgium Gold Cup Belgium National Championship Antwerp Open Dutch Open French Open North Holland Open	1988, 1993, 1996 1989, 1990, 1992 1990 1990, 1992 1992 1995

Career

Laurens made his World Championship debut in 1989, losing in the first round to American Rick Ney. He returned a year later, beating Canada's Bob Sinnaeve, before losing to Mike Gregory. His best performance came in 1997, where he reached the quarter-finals after beating Ritchie Davies and Richie Burnett. He lost to reigning champion Steve Beaton. Laurens also holds the record for most 180's scored in a first-round match at the World Championship, with nine, although John Henderson holds the record for a best of 5 sets match with 12.

He also played in the Winmau World Masters in 1988, 1993, and 1995, losing in the first round on each occasion.

World Championship performances

BDO

• 1989: 1st round (lost to Rick Ney 1–3) (sets)
• 1990: 2nd round (lost to Mike Gregory 1–3)
• 1994: 2nd round (lost to Magnus Caris 0–3)
• 1996: 1st round (lost to Raymond van Barneveld 0–3)
• 1997: Quarter-finals (lost to Steve Beaton 3–4)

External links

• Stats on Darts Database