This article was originally published in the April 2019 edition of Darts Planet TV’s magazine.
Italian darts: it’s not something we regularly hear about, is it? Well, that’s probably due to Italy not having a PDC tour card holder, but darts in Italy will move into the public eye once again in June as the World Cup of Darts takes place in Hamburg.
Italian darts expert, Jacopo Ghirardon, said: “Italian darts is definitely on the rise, but there’s still a long way to go. Numbers are on the up in every tournament, the average level is growing and the enthusiasm in the public eye is very good with decent viewing figures for the PDC tournaments.
“Some players are trying to compete as much as possible in the PDC and WDF tournaments, I think it’s still to early to have a player playing professional darts as it’s still a 100% amateur game here with a lack of sponsors, so even the most important players have to a good think before leaving their jobs and starting a professional career.”
Stefano Tomassetti and Andrea Micheletti will represent Italy at the World Cup of Darts for the first time, after coming through the qualifier held in Italy towards the end of March.
Ghirardon was in attendance at the qualifier, that saw 80 of Italy’s best throwers battle it out for a place in a PDC televised tournament, and highly praised the standard of the event held on Italy’s east coast.
“The winners were Stefano Tomassetti and Andrea Micheletti, both will experience a PDC televised tournament for the first time. The level of the tournament was much better than in other years, and there was some good performances and games during the rounds. Tomassetti beat a youngster in Giuseppe de Rocco at the decider, while Micheletti beat the former WDF World Cup participant Marco Apollonio 6-3 in the final.”
So, Tomassetti and Micheletti will represent Italy at the unique World Cup of Darts. The pairing are two of Italy’s emerging talents, but the question is: is this the best pairing Italy has put forward for the prestigious event held annually in Germany.
We put the question to Ghirardon, and he said: “I think it is. Stefano Tomassetti has always been one of the most talented players in the country, playing in the WDF World Cup several times. After a few troubles in the last few years, he’s come back stronger, winning the Italian Championship for the first time last year, then after trying Q-School he came to win the WDF Acropolis Open in Greece just one week before the qualifier – the first Italian to win an international tournament – the biggest ever achievement for Italian darts.”
“Andrea Micheletti for the third year in a row is playing PDC Darts, especially the European Tour qualifiers, even if most of his victories came from soft-tip darts. It’s definitely a strong pairing, both are playing good stuff in 2019, and their confidence is very high,” added the Italian – who himself is a talented player.
Italy haven’t been the most successful sides at the World Cup of Darts to say the least. Canada, USA, Austria, Gibraltar and the Netherlands have all claimed victories over an Italian pairing in the tournament, with Italy having failed to win a single match in six attempts.
“I think this can be the year [that Italy win a World Cup of Darts match], even if it’s mainly about the draw. Despite having a strong pairing, a match against the Netherlands, Scotland, England and so on would be nearly impossible.
Ghirardon went on to say: “This pair should have enough to win games. The main issue can be the pressure they have: all the eyes will be on them, even from the general audience who watch PDC darts in the Italian media. If they can handle it, with a good draw, the victory that would lift Italian darts to another level will come.”
World Cup of Darts aside, the European Tour has been instrumental to the growth of European darts. We’ve seen German darting audiences grow from around 200 to 20,000 in the space of 10 years, and German prospects have also flourished during that period.
PDC Europe have established the Danish Darts Open and the Czech Darts Open in the last year or so, with the likes of Spain, Poland and Belgium surely being contenders to host European Tour events – which are often dubbed as ‘mini-majors’ – in the next few years. But, where do Italy stand in hosting a European Tour event in the near future?
Ghirardon promulgated: “A European Tour would be massive here in Italy, but I think it’s still early. There have been good viewing numbers for the World Championship in December (around 100k for the semifinals, not like in Germany or the Netherlands but definitely there has been a good interest), but attracting people to the venues wouldn’t be that easy.”
Furthermore, he explained a suitable act to improve the attendances if Italy was to host a Euro Tour weekend: “A good solution can be hosting a ET event in the summer near Venice: they are hosting the European Soft-Tip Championships in Caorle (half hour from Venice), maybe mixing the two things, attracting Germans and Dutch people that go to holiday in Northern Italy, could work very well. But hosting a tournament in Milan, Rome or Florence would be a completely different thing.”
Obviously, Italy isn’t going to become a hotspot overnight but with small steps at a time, it does have the capability of becoming a prominent figure on the darting scene, and if a thrower of Italian descent was to qualify for the World Darts Championship or Tomassetti and Micheletti were to enjoy a valiant run in Hamburg, it could prove essential in the potential growth of darts in Italy.
“The main target would be qualifying for a World Championship. Last year Michele Turetta came really close losing 6-4 the semi-final of the PDC qualifier in Zurich.”
“For the near future having another player on the European Tour after Daniele Petri in 2016. Italy are candidates to host the 2023 WDF World Cup, that can be another occasion to lift the level of darts here. We have also some promising youngsters: Mattia Pinelli did well in the first four tournaments of the Development Tour and he’s financially backed so he can afford all five weekends. Other youngsters will try the weekend in Germany: the more people that travel to play abroad, the better the level will raise to.”
