World Cup of Darts – NZ fall at first hurdle

For those that aren’t aware, the World Cup of Darts tournament started in 2010 and with teams of two players they represent their countries in a straight knockout tournament. Whilst only two countries have ever won the tournament (England and the Netherlands), there is a good representation with 32 countries competing for the GBP60,000 prize.

More importantly, New Zealand have attended every tournament since its inception in 2010. This year, they played on June the 1st which saw Warren Parry and Cody Harris team up for the second time together. Their first round started perfectly by breaking the throw of the Singapore team in the first leg. They held the second leg, but that’s where “the good” ended. The third leg saw the NZ team average a woeful 70.8, well below what should be expected of “professionals “. Once they lost the fourth leg, they were back to even, 2-2 which saw the Singapore team take back momentum.

Yes, it didn’t help that the many English in the German crowd decided to sing for Singapore, but there is no excuse as the New Zealand side showed no consistency expected at this level of darts. At two all and 206 down, Cody Harris shoots 26, it was all downhill from there. The kiwis did manage to win leg seven of the match but ended going down 5-3 to the Singapore team.

The kiwis have only managed to reach this tournaments second round twice. Are they really that bad or is it a lack of top darts at the very top level? Who chooses the team? As I’ve seen, even played way better than what our NZ team has shown to date. It’s certainly different in front of 6,000 people on stage, but come on we deserve better, don’t we? Good luck to Cody Harris who has based himself in England to try his hand on the tour. BTW, the Netherlands (MVG and Raymond van Barneveld) beat the top seeds Scotland 3-1 in the final.

Good luck and straight arrows.

Paul Webber

Owner – Bullseye Darts