At the Darts World Championship in London on December 14th, Dom Taylor got off to a perfect start with a 3-0 win against Sweden’s Oskar Lukasiak on December 14th, but due to a positive doping test result afterwards, the Englishman was no longer allowed to take part in the rest of the tournament. Now the PDC has announced his ban.
As the umbrella organization of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA), announced after the end of the case hearing, Dom Taylor has been banned for six months following his positive doping test.
In addition, Taylor lost the £25,000 in prize money he had earned and his tour card. He also slipped in the world rankings and had to bear the costs of the procedure.
The DRA said in a statement: “Taking into account all available evidence, the committee was satisfied that Mr Taylor’s use of cocaine and cannabis occurred outside of competition and not after the start of the World Championships.”
No leniency for repeat offenders Taylor
Not Taylor’s first transgression: a year earlier, the 27-year-old had to postpone his premiere at Ally Pally after he gave a positive doping test in autumn 2024.
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At that time, the Englishman was able to prove that he had not taken any drugs during a competition, and as a result he was only suspended for a month.
However, as he has now violated the anti-doping rules for the second time, he has been banned from circulation for six months in accordance with Article 10.9 of the UKAD Anti-Doping Rules.
Taylor refers to blows of fate
Shortly after his positive sample became known, Taylor spoke out just before Christmas.
He explained that he had tried for years to cope with stress on his own, including strokes of fate in his family and having dartitis twice at a young age.
In particular, the death of one of his children and the anniversary of this loss had once again severely affected his mental health. During this phase he resorted to substances again to deal with the situation.