Aotearoa emerged victorious at the World Darts Pairs Championships in Denmark last week, taking out the competition for the first time in their history. The winners have returned home with their medals after sweeping through their competition to land themselves in the final against Scotland.
Ben Robb credits his partner Haupai Puha for the duo’s mental fortitude and to focus on what needs to be done.
“The last legs, I was just trying to get the job done. I had no nerves about it though, playing with Haupai, he’s just so reliable. I knew that if I did my job, he’d do his and that’s pretty much what we did throughout the whole tournament. We just did our own job and relied on each other and, when the moment got bigger, we were both calm and closed it out like professionals,” Robb says.
Robb, better known in his circles as ‘Big Rig’ attributes his readiness and capability to perform in front of a crowd to his father.
“Under the moments of pressure I don’t really feel it. As I said, the old man would just throw pieces of paper at me while I’m going for doubles, and do all sorts of stuff. So he prepared me mentally for the challenge of big moments. But it was good to have him. At the time I thought it was frustrating but now I look back at it, it was quite important in my process,” he says.
He dreams of one day making it big in England, battling out with the best of the best the world over, and to show the Kiwi spirit in the heat of battle. But before that, he must first go back to where he began it all as a division 2 prospect and prove why he is one of the best in the world against his peers.
“I just play my process every time, step up, line down, follow up and follow through. It’s worked so far for me so I’ll just maintain what works and yeah just back myself to win.”
This weekend the World Darts Pairs Champions will square off in the Black Horse playoff tournament in Christchurch heading into Monday, where they will be competing for over $6,000 in prize pool money over the tournament.
