A CHARITY darts match and quiz is being organised by a family in Westbury to raise money for their daughter who suffers with a rare disorder that affects her breathing – as reported in the last issue of White Horse News. Former world darts finalist, Mike Gregory, is supporting the event.
Nikita Hughes, who is known as Dolly to her family and friends, is five years old and suffers with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, a disorder which means she must be supported by a machine at night to help her breathe.
Due to a certain position Dolly has to sleep in, she needs a specific bed, and the family are desperate to raise the money to buy the bed. Her dad Eddie Hughes said, “It’s really important to the whole family that we buy the bed for Dolly. She needs to be as comfortable as possible, especially when she has to sleep with a mask on all night.”
The charity darts match will take place at Westbury Labour Club on Friday 28th August starting at 8.30pm and Eddie is hoping for a good turn out.
He said, “Everyone has been so supportive in helping put everything together. We’re so excited that legend Mike Gregory is coming along. He’s a friend of the family and i’ve known him for years. Huge thanks to him for taking the time to come, he is so busy, so it means a lot.
“We’ve got some great prizes for people to win which local businesses have kindly donated. Dolly will never grow out of the disorder, she will have to deal with it forever, but if we can make her comfortable and help her in any way, we will.”
Mike Gregory reached the final of the Winmau World Masters twice and also reached the final of the Embassy World Darts Championship in 1992 – losing to Phil Taylor in a match regarded amongst the greatest matches ever played.
He was one of the top ranked players in the world from the mid-1980s through to the early 1990s, having been seeded in the top four at the World Championships on seven occasions – although he never won the World title.
His major breakthrough was beating John Lowe in the semi-finals of the 1983 British Open in which he finished runner-up to Eric Bristow. He lost again to Bristow in the final of that year’s World Masters tournament.
He lost at the quarter-final stage of the World Championship in 1987, 1989 and 1993. He made his first semi-final in 1990, losing to Eric Bristow and his only final appearance came in 1992 – when he lost an epic match 5–6 in sets to Taylor.
Having missed six darts for the title – two each for double 20, double 8 and double 10, which he has since jokingly referred to as the Bermuda Triangle – the match went all the way to a tie-break leg, which comes when the players reach 5–5 in both sets and legs. It was the first time this had happened in the World Championship’s 14-year history and the match is often mentioned in discussions about the greatest darts match ever played;
Phil Taylor himself still lists this as his greatest ever match. To date, Mike remains the only man to have lost a World Championship final having had a dart at double to win.
Whilst he was never a World Champion, he won many televised titles of the era, including the 1984 Unipart British Professional (beating both Jocky Wilson and John Lowe), the 1986 MFI World Matchplay, as well as becoming one of only seven players to win the News of the World Darts Championship twice (in 1987 and 1988), joining Tom Barrett (1963/64 and 1964/65) and Eric Bristow (1983 and 1984) as the only other players to win it in consecutive years.
