THE 21st Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships gets underway tomorrow and four Cambridgeshire men will be competing for honours. Dennis Harbour, Martin Adams, Shaun Greatbatch and Steve Roberts will be among the 32 players appearing at the Lakes

THE 21st Lakeside World Professional Darts Championships gets underway tomorrow and four Cambridgeshire men will be competing for honours.

Dennis Harbour, Martin Adams, Shaun Greatbatch and Steve Roberts will be among the 32 players appearing at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Surrey.

Unfortunately none of the county's ladies qualified for the championships that will be contested by eight players.

Dennis Harbour will be playing in his second World Championships having come through the tough international play-offs at Bridlington in November.

In his previous appearance at the Lakeside in 2003, Harbour eventually went out in the last 16 to this year's number one seed Mervyn King.

This year, Harbour begins his challenge when he faces the championship's youngest player, Jelle Klassen, of Holland, who turned 21 in October.

Klassen, who teamed up to win the Northern Ireland Open pairs title, should provide a test in the match that will be played at 7pm on Monday.

Steve Roberts will be making his first appearance at the World Championships having also come through the International play-offs at Bridlington.

However, it will not be Roberts' first appearance on the Lakeside stage as he and Dennis Harbour were runners-up in the BDO British Gold Cup earlier this year.

Roberts faces a tough opener against number seven seed and 2001 world champion, John Walton, from Yorkshire. The match will be played at 6pm on Sunday and will be shown live on BBC television.

Another match to be televised live on Sunday sees number two seed Martin Adams take on Cheshire's Darryl Fitton.

Adams, who will be appearing in his 13th consecutive championships, will be looking to go one better than last year, when he finished as runner-up to Dutchman Ray Barneveld.

The match will be played at 2.35pm on Sunday.

Shaun Greatbatch qualified for his fifth Lakeside championships by being ranked in the top 16 of the world rankings at the end of the qualifying period.

Shaun will play young Dutch player Niels De Ruiter in a match to be played at 7.20pm tomorrow (Saturday).

Coverage of the championships will be shown on BBC television throughout the week and up-to-date news from the matches will be posted on the Cambridgeshire web page www.cambsdarts.homecall.co.uk