Palestinian darts champ praises Ireland for supporting his people

"All we want is a better future for our kids and sport can help to do that"

IT is 17 years since Palestine's national darts champion, Taiseer Mustafa, first moved to Ireland but his connection with this country has grown ever stronger over the past harrowing year for his people back home.

"I cannot express my deep thanks to the people of Ireland and the Irish government for the support they have shown for Palestine, not just now, but historically," Mustafa told Darts In Ireland.

Despite Israel's widespread destruction of Gaza and its people, Mustafa still holds out hope of a better future for Palestine.

"Right now it is difficult to see what that future is as the death and the damage has been so huge," he said.

"It is sad to watch the images coming out of Gaza every day. What is happening is not ok, it is a genocide of our people."

However it is through his love of darts that Taiseer can see a way that Palestine can move forward with confidence.

It was only in 2022 that the Palestinian Darts Association was founded, but already the country's darts players are making their mark on the international stage.

Last month Taiseer was part of a four-man Palestine team that competed at the WDF Africa Cup in Egypt, winning bronze medals in the singles, doubles and team events.

It is staggering success for a team that is less than two years old, and with Palestine only joining the World Darts Federation last year, while Taiseer's brother Riad was the country's first ever international participant at the 2023 Bahrain Open.

Meanwhile, 51-year-old Taiseer, who moved from Ramallah to work in Ireland in 2007 and now lives in Swords, Dublin,  has enjoyed a meteoric rise in darts, himself, over the past year.

"My brother first introduced to me darts when I was about 12 years old," he said.

"However we only ever played the game for fun and not in any systematic way.

"It is only over the past year that I have been playing the game competitively. I now practice up to eight hours a week and my game is improving the more I play.

"I may be 51 now but I feel as if I am still in my 20s when I play darts."

Earlier this year, Taiseer was allowed to enter Palestine's first ever national darts championships, playing his games online from Ireland.

"My nephew also played in it from his home in Spain," he says.

"We have up to 40 players in Palestine now, including eight women, so it is growing all the time.

"The standard is not very strong but I was still very happy to win and become Palestine's first ever national darts champion.

"My game is improving all the time as I used to average in the 40s but I am now up around a 60 average."