Gemma Lighting sponsor the ‘Flash’ #brightlightofdarts

Mark Dudbridge uses the nickname “Flash”. He started playing in his very early teens, citing Dennis Priestley as one of his heroes. Dudbridge made a name for himself in the British Darts Organisation by winning the Winmau World Masters in 2002, defeating Tony West in the final – in his first televised tournament. He never competed in the BDO version of the World Championship and switched instead to compete in the Professional Darts Corporation.

In 2003, he won a regional final of the UK Open and also the Ireland Open Classic and knocked out John Part, who was defending champion at the time, in his first appearance at the World Championship in 2004. His success continued in Blackpool at the World Matchplay in 2004 going on to reach the final before losing to Phil Taylor. He would meet Taylor again at the 2005 PDC World Championship in the final – possibly Dudbridge’s best achievement to date. This achievement saw him qualify for the inaugural Premier League and he also took the decision to become a full-time professional player.

Since 2005, his ranking has slipped and he hasn’t made the major impact on the game that his earlier results might have suggested. But his fortunes went into steep decline when he suffered from cubital tunnel syndrome – where tennis elbow meets the oche – and surgery was his last throw of the dice.

Dudbridge has recently seen a return to form, with a string of solid performances on the PDC Pro Tour seeing him qualifying for the 2014 World Championship. Gemma Lighting are proud to sponsor Mark Dudbridge and wish him great success in all future competitions.