Darts fun to hit the mark

‘Perfect’ time to bring spectactle to town

PROFESSIONAL Darts Corporation chief executive Matt Porter says now is the perfect time to bring the sport to cities such as Townsville.

After a three-year wait because of Covid, the PDC’S flagship World Series of Darts tour lands for the first time in regional Australia.

The 16-player Palmerbet Queensland Darts Masters is on Friday and Saturday night at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre before rolling on to Wollongong next week.

Since the first World Series tournament at Sydney’s Luna Park in 2013, the roadshow has also visited Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane.

The Townsville and Wollongong tournaments are the first to held outside state capitals, and Porter said it was great to have finally made it to regional Australia.

“This event has been over three years in the making,” he said.

“There’s a huge amount of anticipation amongst the players and they are delighted to be here. I can’t wait for it to get going.”

Porter said thanks to Australia’s groundbreaking win in the World Cup of Darts in June, the sport could not be in a better place and that was one of the mitigating factors in bringing the World Series tour to Townsville and Wollongong.

“What Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta did by winning the World Cup was huge for darts in this country,” he said

“We believe now is the right time to come to regional Australia because of how strong the game is here now.

“We’ve been coming to Australia for the best part of a decade now and we have always gone to the major cities.

“The appetite for the events here and in Wollongong is huge.

“It’s taken a little bit longer than we’d hoped to get it off the ground. But now we are here, we are primed and ready to go.”

The action starts at Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre from 7pm on Friday night and tickets are still available.

The PDC stars in action on Friday include world No. 1 Gerwyn Price, three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen and Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock.

The eight players from the PDC will take on the Aussie qualifiers along with UKbased Australians Whitlock, Heta and Gordon Mathers.

Porter said those who had not been to a live darts show before were in for a treat.

“If you’ve seen the darts on TV or you’ve been in the audience before, you’ll know that it’s a great mixture of fun world-class sport and worldclass entertainment,” he said.

For tickets to the event, head to Ticketek.