Dreams come true for Kenyan darts team set to take part in South African championship

The stage is set for the Kenya Darts Franchise that will represent the country this weekend at the African Continental Tour (ACT) and the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Championship qualifiers which will be held at the John Tylers Hall in Cape Town, South Africa from 23-24 September.

The Buffalos, which is the Kenyan franchise of the African Darts Series (ADS), has sent a seven-member team that have honed their craft for years just to make the most out of a once in a lifetime opportunity when they compete in the two precious events on South African soil.

Sponsored by lead gaming firm SportPesa, the Buffalos contingent have seen their dreams come true as they travelled to a tournament outside the country for the very first time having missed the opening tour that was also held in South Africa back in August.

The trip will also mark the very first time the Kenyan players get to participate in the World Championship qualifiers on Sunday where only the top player from over 200 participants across the continent will get the ticket to the global PDC World Championship, equivalent to the World Cup of darts, that will be held in the UK in December.

Buffalos team selected for the two events

Speaking ahead of the qualifiers, Manpreet Kalsi, one of the Kenyan players, could not contain his delight ahead of the team’s debut as he outlined the overall targets as well as his individual goals.

“This journey begun ten years ago and it is finally here. There is a lot of pressure but I am going to take the opportunity as it comes. We are all excited and hopefully I am the last to remain in the tournament on Sunday evening then on Monday we will be celebrating the win hopefully.

We are all looking forward to it because it is a very exciting moment for all of us and we have worked very hard to get where we are today. Hopefully my finishing is strong and my scoring as well. But it all depends with my first three darts, if I score well there I know I will be on,” Manpreet said.

“This tournament means a lot and we want to make sure that at least four of us are in the top eight. It will be a big achievement for Kenya because there is so much talent in this country and we want to exploit it to open doors for others in future.

“This is going to be our first time in the qualifiers but we have nothing to lose and we will make sure we give the experienced players from other countries a really hard time,” he added.

Nathan Njeru, who has also tasted victory on the local series similar to Manpreet expressed his gratitude to SportPesa for handing them the historic opportunity to live their dreams.

“It has been a long journey since we started playing and we have been fighting for a chance like this to go and represent our country. It has been difficult getting sponsorships but at last SportPesa came through for us and we are very excited to get this opportunity,” he said.

The ACT will serve as the curtain raiser on Saturday before the team shifts all its focus on the PDC World Championship qualifiers taking place on Sunday.

Buffalos Team: Benson Ngari, Evans Njuguna, John Munyui, Manpreet Kalsi, Nathan Njeru, Jeff Muriithi, Daniel Karori

Also Read: Injera, Amonde headline Kenya legends squad to face Ugandan veterans

About the Buffalos and the African Darts Series

The Buffalos is the Kenyan franchise of the African Darts Series (ADS) organised by the African Darts Group (ADG). Started in December 2022, the Buffalos franchise is mandated to facilitate the participation and the promotion of the ADG darts events and competitions in Kenya.

The African Darts Series (ADS) has team participation from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Nigeria and Kenya with more teams from Africa joining as the competition grows.

Each team registers as a franchise.

The African Darts Series (ADS) is a series of league competitions that runs for three seasons in a year. Each Season runs for 8 weeks and matches are played weekly. Player data is entered in the scoring system which collates the players statistics during each game.

The league commenced in February 2023 with Season I which ended in April 2023 and later Season II which started in May and Ended in July 2023.

Currently the Buffalo Franchise has registered about 30 players who are all participating in the Season 3 which started on July 21. The Kenya Buffalos Franchise has plans of recruiting more players and more teams in subsequent seasons as well as hosting additional local events.

Each player is required to participate in a Qualifying School (Q-School) where they play and their average statistics recorded. These players are then categorised based on their averages into three leagues as below - where they compete with like players.

Pro Elite-70+ average

-Elite-60-69 average.

Super league-59 and below Average