The President of Nigeria Darts Federation (NDF), Abubaka Haruna, says 17 states and clubs are participating in the maiden edition of Global Harmony Envoy International Initiatives (GHEII) Open Darts championship.
Haruna, who is also the chairman caretaker committee of the Federation told sports journalists in Abuja that the aim of the event was to introduce the sport in Abuja.
According to him the championship is sponsored by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called GHEII .
“One of my board members in the Federation, who is part of their management, was able to facilitate the championship to come to a reality.
“The event started on August 18 with an opening registration while the competition started on August 19 and will end on August 21 with presentation of trophy and awards,” he said.
He said that the aim of the championship was to introduce Dart in Abuja.
“We have been playing the game in other states across the country but we have never played the game in Abuja before now.
“This is our first time in Abuja, we want to bring the game closer to the ministry because the game of darts is an optional game” he said.
He said 26 States normally participated in the National championship but only 17 states were present in the recent tournament.
“The number of participating states reduced to 17 states in this event because of factors such as financial issues from the state governments, insecurity, kidnapping among others, ” he said.
He said that the 17 participating states and clubs comprised 13 states and four clubs which are: Bayelsa, Abia, Lagos, Benue, Imo, Kwara, Rivers, Oyo, Delta, Ogun, Edo, Niger and FCT
According to him, the four clubs include Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Air Force (NAF), United Nigerian Textile (UNTL), Kaduna, and National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Zaria.
He explained that Darts is a competitive game in which two or more players bare handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as Darts at the round target know as Dartboard.
The event which started on Wednesday is expected to end on Saturday.
