Archers make darts history
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ARCHERS made history by becoming the first Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Darts League (BMPDL) team to win the championship with a 100 percent record.
The BMPDL champions went into Wednesday night’s game against table anchors Parkview Khanka having already won the title after reaching an unassailable 27 points, but their quest for history saw them winning 26-13.
Lethukuthula Nkomo, a BMPDL official, said Archers will be presented their trophy at the end of the season awards to be held next month.
“Archers are the champions and have won the title in style by completing the season without dropping a point. Actually it’s a record because no team has ever won the league title with a 100 percent record.
“They will get their trophy when we hold our awards to honour players that won various tournaments we held during the season,” said Nkomo.
An ecstatic Archers captain Ernest Sibanda praised his players for working hard and ensuring they achieved the goal they set at the beginning of the season.
“After losing the championship to Railstars in 2015, we told ourselves that we’ve to reclaim the title in style and beat all the teams in the league.
“It sounded far-fetched and being ambitious as we are, we told ourselves we can do it and we’ve done it. My players deserve praise and we’re going to celebrate this feat,” Sibanda said.
Second-placed Railstars may only end the season on 26 points, two behind Archers, who beat them in both legs.
Despite knowing that they’re out of the race, Railstars hammered Queens Sports Club 31-8 at Raylton.
Sibanda applauded Railstars for keeping pressure on them and wished other clubs luck.
“This has been an exciting season for us and knowing that you’re playing for the record made the players give their best at all times. We rotated all the players and everyone played his role towards us achieving our target.
“We also want to thank all the teams that tried to stop us because they made us work harder. Hopefully next season we will be able to defend our title.”
The Archers’ team consisted of Brian Ndlovu, Bongani Ncube, Tafadzwa Mtomba, Wilfred Chitakatira, Nkosiyabansundu Tshuma, Simeone James and a Hambira.
Sibanda said their target now was to win the National Darts Association of Zimbabwe (Ndaz) Champion of Champions tournament to be held before the start of the 2017 season in Kwekwe.
Results
Wednesday: Archers 26-13 Parkview Khanka, Bosso 20-19 ZRP Bulawayo, How Mine 19-20 Wise Waters, Railstars 31-8 Queens, School of Mines 24-15 Imbizo
Table
P W L F A Diff PTS
Archers 28 28 0 774 318 456 28
Railstars 27 25 2 714 339 373 25
Bosso 27 21 6 578 465 113 21
Parkview Lions 26 19 7 597 399 198 19
School of Mines 26 17 9 567 437 130 17
Wise Waters 26 15 11 525 489 36 15
Imbizo Barracks 25 11 14 424 505 -81 11
Support Unit 23 10 13 447 432 15 10
Khami 25 10 15 384 483 -99 10
Queens 26 10 16 423 573 -150 10
ZRP Bulawayo 25 7 18 409 566 -157 7
Maisonic 24 6 18 361 539 -178 6
Bellevue 27 6 21 403 614 -211 6
How Mine 26 6 20 400 614 -214 6
Parkview Khanka 27 3 24 378 621 -243 3
— @ZililoR.
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