Darts: Ariong roots for grassroots developments

Building strong regional youth teams and creating more ranking competitions is a top priority for the Uganda Darts Association chairman Abbey Ariong.

Ariong noted this at the closing ceremony of the Inter-Region Darts Championship dominated by the Northern Region in Wakiso district.

Ariong added that Uganda being fully affiliated with the World Darts Association must be in a position to field competing teams at the international stage.

“I’m impressed with the level of competition exhibited in this tournament. However, more is needed because we must be competitors on the international stage and not participants,” Ariong said.

“We must build strong regional youth teams which shall be nurtured into senior national teams.”

In the women's singles African Champion Sarah Makanga playing for Buganda region beat Jesca Agune of Northern 3-1.

Uganda will be hosting the East Africa Darts Championship and the Uganda International on September 13 to 15 at the Sports View Hotel.

“I am humbled that the Mamerito Hotel has been with us for decades. We are very happy as a sport and look forward to continued partnership,” Ariong said.

“We have added Sports View Hotel to the list of our partners and we shall be holding the Uganda International this year with the new partner.”

He added that more foreign countries including Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are expected to join Kenya, and Tanzania and host Uganda for the international event.