Rico Vonck is a darts

Darts

Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 player, currently residing in Posterholt

Posterholt

Posterholt is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Roerdalen.Posterholt merged with the municipalities Montfort and Sint Odiliënberg in 1991, and the new municipality changed its name to Ambt Montfort three years later.The local soccer team, PSV'35, has...

. He qualified for the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship

2007 PDC World Darts Championship

The 2007 Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship was the 14th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The tournament began on Monday 18 December 2006 and the final was played on Monday 1 January 2007...

 having finished second in the DDF (Dutch Darts Federation) rankings. Michael van Gerwen

Michael van Gerwen

Michael van Gerwen is a Dutch professional darts player, nicknamed Mighty Mike. He is the youngest player in history to win a major televised tournament in either the BDO or the PDC, winning the 2006 Winmau World Masters at the age of 17...

 had finished top of the list, but he opted to play in the BDO version

2007 BDO World Darts Championship

The 2007 Lakeside World Darts Championship was the 30th Championship and was held between January 6–14, 2007 at the Lakeside Country Club, Frimley Green, Surrey....

 instead.

Vonck was only nineteen when he won his place at the Circus Tavern

Circus Tavern

The Circus Tavern is an entertainment venue in Purfleet, Essex, England which hosts functions, cabaret acts and is also a nightclub venue. However, it is most famous as having been a long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Championship....

, and is yet to turn professional - he currently earns his full-time living as a decorator

Decorator

Decorator can refer to:*a house painter and decorator*Interior decoration*Decorator pattern in object-oriented programming*Function decorators, in Python*The Decorator, a 1920 film starring Oliver Hardy...

. He won his first round match against world number 16 Mark Walsh, who was suffering from dartitis

Dartitis

Dartitis is a condition which can affect dart players, and severely damage their performance and results. It can be compared to the 'yips', an expression used to describe apparent loss of fine motor skills without any explanation...

 at the time. He then went on to beat Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 qualifier Brian Cyr

Brian Cyr

Brian Cyr is a Canadian darts player who represented Canada in the 2007 PDC World Darts Championship. He beat Barrie Bates to reach the second round losing to Rico Vonck. He is a two-time winner of the Canadian National Championship in 1999 and 2006, the latter title earned him a spot in the PDC...

 in round two but failed to win a single leg against fellow Dutchman and four-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld

Raymond van Barneveld

Raymond van Barneveld , nickname Barney is a professional darts player. He is a five time World Darts Champion, and two time UK Open Champion. From January to June 2008, he was the PDC world number one ranked player...

 in the last 16, losing 0-4.

Vonck used the nickname Sparky at the Circus Tavern.

Sources

• Rico Vonck's darts database