JOHN LOWE has tipped Trinidad's Vivekanand Dyal to make an impression in the Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship Qualifiers this weekend.
Dyal - nicknamed "Rabbit" - will join 171 PDPA members at Villa Park on Saturday in a bid to win a place in the World Championship.
Norman Madhoo, Anthony Fleet and Winston Cadogan have previously competed at Purfleet, and Dyal will hope to overcome his challenge on Board 13 - including previous qualifiers Gary Welding and Kevin Spiolek - to follow in their footsteps.
Dyal won July's Carib Beer Caribbean & South American Masters, and followed that up by leading Trinidad & Tobago to glory in the Digicel Barbados Darts Festival last month.
The festival was hosted by three-time World Champion John Lowe, who was particularly impressed by Dyal's display in the B&H Mens Pairs Final, partnering Rahaman Hassanali against Forde and Cadogan.
"Some of these players are really good but need to be playing regularly against top quality opposition to keep improving their game," said Lowe.
"The standard of play by the top men players would be a credit to any tournament in the world.
"I watched closely the final of the B&H Mens Pairs and the quality of the darts was exceptional.
"In the best of seven game final there were 29 scores of 100 or more and no game lasted longer than 20 darts - a good number finishing in 13 and 15 darts.
"This is exceptional scoring by any standards with Dyal winning the match for his team 4-3 by hitting the title-winning double with his first dart."
Barbados also hosted the Americas Cup in July, and the popularity of the sport is spreading across the Caribbean region, with the Trinidad & Tobago Darts Association working with the Sport Ministry to further widen the participation.
Lowe will return to host next year's Barbados Darts Festival from 25 October-5 November.
"There is no better place in the world to combine playing darts with a vacation in a wonderful Caribbean island," said Festival Director Michael Heal.
For more details, contact Tour Operator Sun Living on 01623 795365 or sun.living@virgin.net.
Click here for a review of the Barbados Darts Festival