Huybrechts opens 'Dartshop Hurricane': "This quenches the darting thirst, should things go wrong in the sport"

Darts has been on a serious rise in Belgium in recent years. Kim Huybrechts, a professional player himself, has now capitalized on that popularity by opening a darts store.

"Dartsshop Hurricane" is the name of the store that Huybrechts and his wife Dana will operate in Nijlen. "Ten years ago I wouldn't have done this. No way! But you see it already today, here has constantly been ten people in the store. Before the opening I had some nerves, but it's really nice. They were already queuing at the door this morning, as early as 9:30 am while we opened at 10 am. I found that very annoying because we don't have any curtains, so they see you constantly then. So it was a 'bit of a pain' to have to leave people outside like that," Huybrechts told Het Nieuwsblad.

Huybrechts also realizes he has enough earnings to go for it. "I have made a good living by joining the world top and playing the Premier League, but I have also seen the downside by falling back a bit. This quenches the darting thirst, should things go wrong in the sport. Because you never know."

From now on, the 36-year-old Belgian will also train in a space behind the store. "Yes, if it's a little quieter I can come here and throw some darts. I can also give lessons and workshops here. A few months ago we decided on this just because of the many requests for it. We did those at home for a while, but still want to keep our private life a little bit. A friend then said of: Why don't you start a store? My wife also just quit her job then, because she was a little tired of it, and she was right along when I said with a smile of: Come, we'll start a store. She's totally doing the shop now, but for the first few months, people would also come here to see my stupid head. So Dana mans the shop, I take the classes and workshops after hours. By the way, she knows enough about it because she's been throwing herself almost all her life and knows how it all works."

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Ambition

Huybrechts himself still burns with ambition. "The form is good. I can't complain. I recently tried a new set-up and I'm very content with that. The training sessions are fantastic, hopefully I can now transfer that to matches. Next season we will then try to do a full season. That was the intention, but due to circumstances the training sessions have been a bit lacking. We can get back into it from now on and the top 24 is the goal. Unfortunately I don't have that yet, but a good World Championship might. But I'm not going to worry about it and work quietly back towards the top."