The draw for this weekend's New Zealand Darts Masters has been confirmed! 🇳🇿 Some thrilling first round ties ahead in Hamilton! 🍿 👉 bit.ly/24NZDraw
"Playing in front of my home crowd and in front of my family, hopefully I can produce my A-game" - Haupai Puha excited for New Zealand Darts Masters homecoming
PDCFriday, 16 August 2024 at 09:00
The World Series of Darts are due for their final stop of 2024 this weekend. Hamilton will host the New Zealand Darts Masters as the final event before the World Series of Darts Finals take place in Amsterdam in mid-September.
The New Zealand Darts Masters is the seventh and final tournament this year, after the World Series of Darts previously touched down in the likes of Bahrain, the Netherlands, the United States, Denmark, Poland and Australia. New Zealand once again features some of the best players in the world competing against some of the best players from Oceania. The World Series of Darts Finals will follow later this year in Amsterdam.
One of the players the home crowd is hugely looking forward to seeing, is Haupai Puha. Earlier this year, the 39-year-old darter became the first New Zealander to manage to capture a PDC Tour Card at Q-School. Currently, 'Hopes' is 117th in the world rankings. At the New Zealand Darts Masters, he will take on Rob Cross in the opening round. That match, by the way, will be a replay of last week, when Puha lost 6-5 to the same Cross in the first round of the Australian Darts Masters. “I was lucky not to lose 6-0 against Rob last week," Puha recalls in conversation with the PDC's official website. "But then I was a bit unlucky not to win in the end, so hopefully I can start a little bit better and build on the finish that I had.”
Haupai Puha captured his PDC Tour Card early this year
For Puha, it is the only time this year he will play a major tournament in his home country. “I'm really looking forward to it," stressed the 2019 World Cup of Darts quarterfinalist. "This is one of the tournaments at the top of the list for me, playing in front of my home crowd and in front of my family, and hopefully I can produce my A-game."
If Puha manages to win over Cross he will take on the winner of the duel between two Australians Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock in the quarter-finals.
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