Lakeside legends Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams and Lisa Ashton both toe the oche on the opening day of the 41st BDO World Championship. Adams makes his 25th consecutive appearance at the championship – he lifted the trophy in 2007, 2010 and 2011 – and Ashton also starts her bid for a fourth women’s title in five years. The match between Adams and Mark McGeeney launches the championship on Saturday afternoon – and it’s a tough start for ‘Wolfie.’ McGeeney heads to the Lakeside as the BDO’s No 2 having been there or thereabouts throughout 2017, winning four titles, including the Dutch Open and English Classic, and reaching the World Masters final.

The last time McGeeney and Adams met, at the Belgium Open in August, McGeeney was a 4-0 winner. Adams admits that, because of health problems, his form has been “up and down” over the last 12 months. Though given the all-clear from prostate cancer, Adams has had joint pain and foot problems, but said: “I’ve still got the game and I’m still enjoying it, which is the main thing. “Mark is the No 2 seed and that means the pressure is on him. Let him worry about the match. I’m not.” The Lakeside crowd are sure to be behind Adams, once described as “a big hairy drama show” by commentator David Croft for his habit of winning matches he seems certain to lose – and losing matches he is sure to win.

Adams regards his victory over the late Phill Nixon in their classic see-saw final in 2007 final as his finest moment and added: “To win the title again in my 25th year would be immense. That would equal winning the first one. “ Adams is convinced he will have many more opportunities to claim the sport’s biggest prize. “Lionel Smith was playing County A darts for Staffordshire until he was 75 and if he can do that, why can’t I keep playing at the Lakeside into my seventies ?” he reasoned. “Why not ? Who’s going to stop me ? “The only people who can stop me are the other players and if I keep doing the circuit play well enough, I will keep going to the Lakeside. I’m not bothered about being seeded or not. I just want to go there and enjoy it.”