Bullseye to the Heart: Diving into the World of Darts.

Above is an image of two sportsmen, Luke Littler (L) and Ricardo Pietreczko (R) from March 2024. Would you be surprised to learn the sport they play is Darts? With these intense expressions and squared-up body language, you’d never think that they partake in a global version of a beloved pub game!

All this tension reaches a boiling point every November in the Grand Slam of Darts, held in England every year since 2007. Darts players from various European countries come together and face off for the thrill of the game. A game that, often, isn’t taken too seriously. While most of us consider a game of darts to be a fun pub activity, for many dart players, it’s about life or death. 

Believe it or not, the Grand Slam of Darts is just one of the ten official Darts tournaments held worldwide by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), an organization born after British Darts Organization chairman Olly Croft made negative remarks with regards to some players expressing that there wasn’t enough of an effort to get sponsorships into the sport.

Coming back to one of the challengers in the image above, Luke Littler is a 17 year old darts sensation who has been on an unfortunate streak, losing in the first round of his last three tournaments. He will be raring to go for a shot at redemption. With the World No. 1 and defending champion Luke Humphries out of the tournament already, we recommend looking out for Littler and three time winner Michael van Gerwen.

When Sport Goes Miniature

While the beloved Grand Slam of Darts 2024 takes place in the UK from November 9th -17th, back here in India, Ace of Pubs brought international games like table tennis, foosball and darts to pubs across the country with their Miniature Olympics across Mumbai-based Irish House outlets earlier this year.