The East London Darts Association is celebrating a resounding victory after a team of four 16-year-old boys competed at the eighth Bi-Annual African Union Sports Council Youth Darts Championship in Zambia last weekend.
Deacon Swanepoel, Anton Jacobs, Storm Gay and Reece Elijah achieved gold in a team competition.
They then competed in doubles matches, where Swanepoel and Jacobs won gold and Gay and Elijah claimed silver.
It was the first time that the junior dart players had been chosen to represent the association on an international level.
The boys were accompanied by the club’s financial director Danny Pillay, tournament director, Mike Strydom, and president of Darts SA, Graham Stark. The SA team ranked second after Botswana, followed by Zambia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
George Weideman, the development officer for the East London Darts Association, said the championship was one of many opportunities for the boys to showcase their skills and qualify for next year’s nationals, as well as the 2025 World Cup.
“We are very excited about these scores. Our boys did very well in this championship.
“This is a historical win for us because it is the first time our juniors have qualified for the championships and represented the country.
“Now we want to focus on growing the sport and taking darts into schools. We have a programme that we are currently working on that will see us putting darts in schools so that more youngsters can get into it.”
