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2007 PartyBets.com Grand Slam of Darts
17th November - 25th November, Wolverhampton
2008 Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship
17th December - 1st January, Alexandra Palace, London
2008 Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts
31st January - 26th May, cities across the UK
Friday, 28th December - Kevin Painter knocks out Raymond van Barneveld
LADBROKES.COM WORLD DARTS CHAMPION Raymond van Barneveld was sent crashing out of the 2008 tournament with a 4-2 defeat to Kevin Painter at London's Alexandra Palace on Thursday.
saw the defence of his title come to a halt against Painter.
The 2004 runner-up continued his superb form with a scintillating
display, landing nine maximums and averaging over 95 to move into the
quarter-finals.
"I'm absolutely delighted," said Painter. "Raymond's been a great
champion and is a fantastic bloke as well, but it was my day today.
"It's the best win of my career and if I can carry on digging out
results like that at the death.
"To play a final leg like that, hitting two 180s and a ten-darter is
unbelievable.
"I'm happy to be hitting my doubles on a regular basis and I've been
playing well throughout this year so it's not a massive surprise to me."
Painter hit back from losing the first set to take six of the next seven
legs and lead 2-1.
Van Barneveld levelled but Painter produced an 11-darter to win the
fifth set and then bettered that with a ten-darter - including seven
perfect darts - in booking his place in the last eight.
Painter will now face Adrian Lewis in Saturday's quarter-finals, and he
added: "I know what I am capable of doing and that is it, but I've got
to do it more consistently.
"Raymond and Phil Taylor do, and it's down to the rest of us to do it on
a more regular basis.
"Adrian's playing well but he struggled a bit early on against Tony
Eccles but he showed his class to come back and win, and it will be a
great game."