1999 BDO World Darts Championship 1999 BDO World Darts Championship The 1999 Embassy World Professional Darts Championship was held from 2–10 January 1999 at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey. Defending champion Raymond van Barneveld retained his title with victory over Ronnie Baxter in another thrilling final which, like the previous year's decider against Richie Burnett, went to the final set and a tiebreak. Barneveld became the first player to retain the Embassy World Championship since Eric Bristow won it in three consecutive years in 1984, 1985 and 1986. The standout match of this championship, however, was the quarter-final between Chris Mason and
News of the World Darts Championship the championship from 1972 to 1985, and again in 1987 and 1988. The 1986 event wasn't broadcast due to a technicians' strike. As quickly as darts tournaments began to appear on television throughout the 1970s and into the early and mid 1980s, the bubble burst and all darts competitions except the World Championship disappeared from TV screens in 1989. This big sudden slump in televised darts coverage meant that it came as no surprise that the News of the World Championship also ended after the 1990 event, with the last two events having been untelevised. As it happened, 1990 was