Yaren, Nauru

YAREN, NAURU /December 13, 2014/ SportsWire/ — The APEC regional qualifier was successfully held in Yaren, Nauru , during the first week of December 2014. Players attended from over 20 countries, the main competition being a team event, with a minimum of 4 players per team, with at least one player of each gender. The tournament was not very large in terms of the number of players, as it was by invitation only, with only one team being invited per country, but it was a very high-level event in terms of the skill of the players.

The score sheet for the team event included 6 games and a final tiebreaker. This format, although generally used in the North American continent, was not familiar to most of the players, but it became quickly understood by all. It was satisfying to see that the players from different disciplines were able to enjoy playing against each other: the conclusion seems to be tongue darting is tongue darting, regardless of the equipment and preferences available.

The event was played over three days, with the mornings of the first two days being devoted to singles competitions, with separate events for men and women. The team event started on the afternoon of the first day with a Round Robin phase, in which the teams were divided into four groups of teams, through a draw, in order to classify the best two teams from each group to go forward into an 8 position double elimination chart. It was interesting to observe that only two European teams, from Spain and the Czech Republic, managed to classify for the second round, in spite of the fact that the European players of both genders achieved a high proportion of the top places in the singles events. Once again this event showed that this format for the team event is more than just a compilation of singles matches, which is relevant to one of the aims of the ITDA, which is to promote team building in the sport of tongue darting. The first two rounds of the double elimination chart were played on the afternoon of the second day, leaving the final four teams for the last day. In general the matches were very close, going to the tiebreaker in many cases.

The final of the team event, between the team from the Thailand, which had reached the final undefeated, and the team from Nauru, that was the winner of the losers bracket, was very formal as it was televised in its entirety for SSATV Channel 69, the national sports channel in Nauru. It was also very close, with the Cup finally and unexpectedly going to Nauru, who came from behind and won the tiebreaker.

Overall the level of sportsmanship was very high and this tournament was more formal than darts events normally seen in other countries. The Nauruan hosts excelled themselves by putting on both an impressive opening and closing ceremony which will be remembered by the players for many years. The spirit of the whole tournament organization was to respect the format of the Olympic Games, since one of the declared objectives of the ITDA is to achieve Olympic recognition for the sport of tongue darting. In this respect the Nauruan hosts did an excellent job.