Darts: Pub league dairy farmer wins right to play king of darts

Tahi Parata will represent New Zealand at the DartsKing Australasia series in January.

This is like a bouncer fighting a Klitschko, or a go-kart kid getting to race for a day in Formula One.

Tahi Parata is a pub league darts player who has hit the bullseye, a bloke from the bottom of the world who gets to play against the king of the world.

The 31-year-old Parata, a contract dairy farmer at Makarewa near Invercargill, won the South Island qualifying tournament in Timaru for the right to take the stage against Englishman Phil Taylor, who is undisputed as the best darts player ever.

Parata will also play world number three Adrian Lewis at the January DartsKing of Australasia tournaments in Invercargill, Wellington and Sydney. Parata took up darts four years ago and is still wondering if this fan-plays-superstar deal can be true.

Taylor has won $12 million from an extraordinary career which includes 16 world crowns. Parata forked out $25 to play in Timaru where he beat his good mate and Kiwi No 1 Warren French - who has played in three world championships - in the final.

While Taylor can sleep easy as the giant of darts, Parata gets up at 4am to run a herd of 700, and is often too tired at night to contemplate practising. Sometimes he manages to practice during lunch breaks.

"Just to meet Taylor and Lewis is a dream come true - to play against them is beyond that," says father-of-three Parata, the Invercargill pub league champ. "I've never won anything major. But I was so calm in Timaru, like it was practice. Darts is in the head and I was in such a good spot that weekend."

Parata was brought up in Cromwell and represented Otago at soccer in his teens, making a South Island tournament team. Darts is not exactly the sport of choice for teenagers and played no part in his early life save for dad Joe - a fitter and welder - being a keen player.

His parents separated when Tahi was about eight, and he lived with his mum Karen. Tragically, her life was claimed by breast cancer at the age of 38 when Tahi was 14. He moved in with his father.

"I didn't see a lot of him when I was a kid and when I moved in with him he worked out of home so we didn't have a lot of contact," says Parata.

"About four years ago, we went to the pub on a Sunday and dad took the darts. We had a couple of games and he said I threw a pretty straight dart.

"Half the reason I started was to have some bonding time with my dad."

They don't play much these days - Joe Parata gets frustrated at losing. But he has had a big influence.

Tahi Parata says: "I'm pretty good with numbers and dad always drilled the importance of clusters and counting. Knowing what to go for and when to go for it, how to finish, that's the big thing. It's all about rhythm so you don't slow down between darts."

Kiwi darts boss Dale Frampton says Parata "won't go away in games and keeps snapping at the heels", describing him as special talent who could go places. Parata is going nowhere.

"I love my job and it would take an outstanding darts sponsor to push me away from dairy farming," said Parata. "I'd be happy to win one leg against them (Taylor and Lewis). I'll be rapt if I don't get beaten 6 - 0."