'Pistol Pete' is back and firing like a young gun

Peter Holm and Hayden Hape display their medals at the Saigon Restaurant and Bar, where they practise their darts.

Dannevirke darts players Peter Holm and Hayden Hape have returned with silver medals from the New Zealand Maori Darts Tournament in Gisborne last month.

They were pipped in the final by national champion Cody Harris and his dad, Sonny, 4-2 in the best of seven 501 games.

There were more than 80 pairs teams in the tournament and the Dannevirke combination won all their games 3-0 in the knockout eliminations before reaching the final against the New Zealand No 1.

Both admitted they were a bit overawed. Hayden said playing the final against the national champion "was a bit surreal".

They had the first two games in their hands but could not quite clinch them and were 3-0 down in the best of seven contest before clawing their way back to 3-2, before losing the next.

While for Hayden playing in this kind of league was totally new, for Peter it was "just like old times" as he had played most major tournaments in New Zealand and Australasia for four years, rising to Manawatu No 1, reaching a national ranking of seven and representing the NZ Cosy Club before retiring at age 32.

Lured back to the game by the Dannevirke Social Darts Competition and top darts on television, he started to coach Hayden and began to realise that as a pair they "were becoming pretty hard to beat".

Before they could enter, they had to be affiliated to a club and Hawke's Bay was delighted to accept them.

At Gisborne, Hawke's Bay supporters were very keen in their backing, especially when both players made the top 16 in the 170 player-strong singles on the Saturday.

Word soon passed around the older players that "Pistol Pete was back" - Peter's nickname in his heyday.

He still plays with the darts he bought on his honeymoon.

Back in Dannevirke, both players are planning more big competitions but their main focus is to develop a junior darts coaching programme to start in the Christmas school holidays.

They say they were very impressed with the high number of young players at the Maori tournament and want to foster the sport which "has discarded its seedy image and has developed career paths for the best".

Peter says it sharpens the mind, particularly in addition and subtraction, there is a lot of health and wellbeing education and theory, as well as skill and strategy.

Anyone interested in the training programme can ring Hayden on 021 515 464.