Darts Association in need of $1M to attend Caribbean championships

The Guyana Darts Association (GDA) is hoping to send a 16-member team to the Americas Cup and Caribbean championships being staged at the Cara Suits in Trinidad and Tobago from July 6-10.

However, the executives face a familiar bugbear- lack of finance.

According to team captain Sudesh Fitzgerald, they are still short of $1,100,000 to cover the players’ expenses for the title-defending trip.

Should he make the trip, Fitzgerald will be defending the Caribbean Singles title and the Doubles crown in partnership with Luis Miguel Ramirez- Merlano.

The other members listed for the trip are Lallchand Rambharose, Norman Madhoo, Adrian Damon, Fedel Hunter, Andrew Balchand, Mary Correia, Melisa Smartt, Shondell Hyles, Hemwantie Balchand and Victorine Chandro, while GDA President Sheik Yaseen will serve as manager and Dr. Terence Joseph as assistant manager.

Additionally, former 10-year national champion Norman Madhoo will arrive from Florida on June 16 to join the team. Madhoo represented Guyana four time at the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World championships in London, making him the most successful darts player in country.

In preparation for the tournament, the GDA held a tournament at the Malteenoes Sports Club on Friday evening with the support of Massy Industries under its Colgate and Palmolive brands. The action-packed night saw Fitzgerald and Smartt coming out as the respective Singles winners which meant they each took home $20,000.

Second place went to Rambharose and Hyles who each received $10,000, while the third-place finishers Greene and Chandro were awarded hampers from Colgate’s Brand Manager, Imran Boodram.

Fitzgerald expressed immense appreciation for the support of Massy’s David Dharamraj and hoped other companies can extend their benevolence to the group.

Just last September, a six-member team returned from a successful outing at the Central and South America World Championship Qualifiers held in Brazil.  Fitzgerald won the Brazil Open and in partnership with Chandroo, they brought home the Mixed Doubles title.