Upanga need to reassess progress

Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam’s Upanga Darts Club (UDC)’s big gun status at the regional level of the sport is something that can hardly been disputed by any of darts followers in the city.

The club has, for the past few years, been enjoying tremendous success in various competitions held either at its venue, located within Upanga suburbs, at any other venue in the city thanks to impressive displays showcased particularly by the outfit’s dependable players.

Amid the success that UDC has enjoyed in the tournaments, there have been a series of painful memories in the form of the outfit’s failure to win team games in events that were held at its backyard.

The team games of the 2012’s Berger Paints Floating Trophy tournament, for instance, remains a memorable case for despite fielding two teams, UDC had to settle for the runner-up position, with Lugalo Club emerging as the champions.

The side’s notable success in the tournament came in the singles event, in which Alikhan Wallani emerged as champion and, somewhat, spared his teammates’ blushes.

Much as UDC is among the feared darts outfits in Dar es Salaam, the club’s failure to perform well in national tournaments organized by the Tanzania Darts Association (Tada) remains the side’s biggest disappointment.

While Kinondoni District’s Friends Darts Club rose from a modest outfit a couple of years back to become one of the most successful outfits in Tada competitions, UDC has disappointingly failed to flex its muscles in almost all major events.

Friends’ impressive performance in the last year’s East Africa Darts Challenge Trophy, held in Arusha, as a matter of fact, proves the outfit now deserves a place among feared darts clubs in the country.

UDC’s woes in the Tada competitions were prolonged this year, when the outfit failed to progress to the knockout stages of the men’s category of the team games.

The club was in the first group of the event, which also had Arusha’s Magereza, Morogoro’s Mzinga and other Dar es Salaam outfits of Annadil Burhani, Friends Ngao and Police Barracks.

Friends Ngao, which was one of Friends Darts Club’s two teams that participated in the event, eventually went all the way to lay hands on the top honour,with a convincing 9-6 victory over fellow Dar es Salaam side, Lugalo Club, in the final.

Friends Ngao, thus, successfully defended the trophy it won in the last year’s tournament played in Morogoro.

UDC chairman, Parmjit Singh, admitted in an interview with Sports Extra that competitiveness in team games of the Singles and Doubles Championship was high and his outfit’s performance was below par.

“We did not perform well in team games but we had good results in the men’s singles and doubles events. In the me’s singles’ event, Azim Mohamed reached quarterfinals and he, then, teamed up with Mehboob Khakoo to secure a place in the quarterfinals of the men’s deoubles event”, Singh said.

He added that his side failed to field the expected number of players in the tournament because job commitment kept some of the players out of the event.

Singh bemoaned poor organisation of the tournament as having contributed to the resulting poor performance.

He, in particular, expressed dissatisfaction with the lighting system, which had to be put into place as most of the matches were played at night.

“I was disappointed with the quality of the grounds...the lighting system was very poor.

Some of the players failed to exhibit their potential because of the situation, which made it difficult for them to comfortably aim darts at the dartboards”, he said.

“The lighting system should be fixed in such a way that players can properly see dartboards and play well. Tada ensure grounds are comfortable so that players can perform well”, he added.

“This is a national championship, it was not supposed to be organised this way. If grounds are not in good shape, one can hardly perform well, however good he is in darts.”

Stepping up performance now remains a must for UDC, should the outfit dreams of coming out of Friends Darts Club’s shadow.

And there is no better way for UDC to effectively stamp its authority in Tada tournaments than grooming young players, who will successfully step into the shoes of the outfit’s group of ageing players.

The outfit’s veterans in the likes of Azim Mohamed, Ashok Motichand, Mehboob Khakoo, Nanji Bhudia and Vasant Rana are well past their prime and it is obvious the club can no longer bank on them, when it comes to seeking success at the most competitive stage of the sport.

UDC still boasts talented performers like Wallani and Sanjay Kara, whose youthfulness assures them of competing in major tournaments for several more years, but the need to groom more young players is of paramount importance.

The club’s decision to draft two young players, Harvir Singh and his younger brother, Tanvir, at the end of the 2012 season is a step in the right direction and efforts should be done to attract more youngsters.

The duo had a successful debut for the club in the 2012’s Berger Paints Floating Trophy tournament, in which they made short work of a couple of experienced opponents in the singles event and won special prize for their promising displays.

Harvir and Tanvir failed to feature for UDC in this year’s Singles and Doubles Championship because of tight school schedule, as noted by UDC chairman, Singh.

It is hoped the back-to-back triumph that Friends Club enjoyed in the Singles and Doubles Championship will serve as a timely inspiration to UDC.