‘I took on PDC darts star subsequent to World Championship trophy – and even took the lead’
When the World Championship trophy visited the office, Aaron Flanagan took the opportunity to take on an Ally Pally contender to find out just how good they really are
The honour of throwing darts with the Sid Waddell trophy at the side of the oche is usually reserved for the PDC World Championship final.
Even for Haupai Puha, the Kiwi slinger who is getting set for his third appearance at Ally Pally, this was a treat for the first time ever. “I don’t want to touch it,” he says. “I’ve never even seen it before!”
I was taking on Haupai in a nine-dart challenge, as part of Paddy Power’s new Darts of Destiny campaign, where a lucky person will get the chance to throw for £180,000 on the night of the final in front of 3,000 fans dressed as traffic cones and seagulls. But hitting the prize-winning 180 score in nine darts is difficult, as I was to discover.
Haupai had a few practice darts – generally aiming for bullseye and not often missing – while I took a few deep breaths and realised I’d need to throw the best left-handed darts of my life to stand any chance of not being embarrassed. I’m normally a right-handed thrower, but dartitis has hit and I’ve taught myself to be semi-competent with my left, to add another spanner in the works for myself.
Haupai asked who should go first. I opted to set a score to be beaten, so up I stepped. The first three couldn’t have been much better. Ninety-five scored after the second found the treble 20. The next two visits were slightly less glamorous, and I set a benchmark of 157.
I was pretty satisfied… and then even more satisfied when Haupai failed to find a treble on his first visit, so I can – to some extent – say that I was leading a World Championship darts player while next to the Sid Waddell trophy.
Then Haupai’s quality shone through, and he eased his way to a total final score of 232. I was beaten, but I’ll take pride in leading, even if it was just for one visit.
Paddy Power’s Darts of Destiny is tough to complete. It turns out, once around 50 colleagues had attempted to throw later in the day, that 157 was a more than reasonable score. Only one person scored higher, and still didn’t hit 180.
But it’s certainly not impossible. You can put your name in the hat to take on the challenge on the main stage at Ally Pally by simply donating to Prostate Cancer UK.
For Haupai, who is far from darts’ biggest name, it is a poignant campaign to be backing, having had his own personal connection with it not once, but twice.
“I don’t get invited to many of these. They might have asked Luke Littler and Humphries and they weren’t available, and I obviously was next in line,” Haupai jokes.
“This is good, especially the charity that’s a part of this. My father and my grandfather both passed away from prostate cancer.
“It’s good to be a part of this, it’s good to give back to charities, and they’re doing a great job.”
- Enter Darts of Destiny and donate to Prostate Cancer UK via the JustGiving page for the chance to win £180k at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship Final
- Darts of Destiny is part of Paddy Power’s Even Bigger 180 campaign calling on 180,000 men to check their risk using Prostate Cancer UK’s online risk checker
