The Saturday Club team — (l-r) Aman Sondhi, Rohit Nijhawan, Manvir Randhawa, Tara Gill, Harjyoti Bindra and Pratul Pandit — with their trophy after winning in the club category at the Inter Club & Corporate Darts Championship 2018 presented by The Bengal Club in association with The Telegraph. The Wood Street club dominated the final against Tollygunge Club on June 8. 

Organised by the West Bengal Darts Association (WBDA), the tournament was held at The Bengal Club earlier this month. The fourth edition of the competition saw corporates participating for the first time in a tournament that was previously restricted to city clubs. The team tally went up to 16, with nine clubs and seven corporate houses battling it out in men’s singles, mixed doubles and open doubles categories. Each team fielded five members, including a mandatory female member.

“This is the first time I participated in this event and it feels incredible to have won it. I’ll definitely be back next year to defend the title,” said Aman, who represented The Saturday Club in the men’s singles and mixed doubles events.

“This is a great event, not just to show one’s skill in the sport but also to socialise and get to know new people. I will definitely be back next year,” said Madhu Lakhotia from RCGC who was a semi-finalist.

“This is the first time that we have opened up this tournament to corporates too, in addition to the clubs. The participation numbers have been encouraging and we expect them to go up in the coming years,” said Prasanta Saha, secretary, West Bengal Darts Association. 

(L-R) Raunak Karnani, Aryan Hossain, Deep Kumar Shaw and Aastha Dalal from Hipswear emerged triumphant in the corporate category, beating Stewart Securities in a one-sided final. They took their award from Sumit Ray (chairman, entertainment and sports subcommittee, The Bengal Club; centre) Deep was in top form, winning both the men’s singles and mixed doubles titles. “It’s been a great experience for me. I won the nationals in May and that has given me the momentum to perform at other tournaments,” he said. “We have been hosting this tournament in association with the WBDA and are happy to see the response and number of participants this year. We hope more people join in the years ahead,” said Ray.