Two beers – then it is time to go a world CUP match

Almost all have well thrown the arrow any time and for many, the darts forever linked with beer and pubmiljöer.

And partially correct the image still, even if most of the races today are not determined on the pubs but in the larger sports arenas or exhibition halls.

But the beer is left.

It is not allowed to drink during the actual matches, but well before and in between.

" I will gladly take two beers before the match to keep the nerves in control, acknowledge the Swedish world CUP participant Daniel Larsson.

a really great race. The winner takes home a sum of 5.5 million and the runner up will receive 2.5 million kronor.

This is where the world's best players and Daniel Larsson has managed to qualify through competitions in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.

" this is a big dream. This is by far the largest I have been involved with in the dart, " says Daniel Larsson.

the Actual world CUP matches are taking place up there on a stage and publiktrycket can be huge.

– The taking in of 3,500, 4,000 spectators in the stadium and you can get the audience with them and you can get the crowd against him. It is not so that the audience always respect the players. It can be buanden and cheers and so on, " says Daniel Larsson.

played this type of games five times in the past. But he likes the challenge.

– They are a great feeling. It is easier when playing on the floor and you have 15 or 20 tracks next to it and there are many more. Here it becomes all the focus on the one, and it creates a grand backdrop.

I like this man-against-man-thing.

Daniel Larsson will from lilla Höljes in Värmland, best known for rallycrosstävlingen that are held there every summer.

When he was ten years old he would go on training karate in the house of the People, but the coach never showed up. Instead put someone who felt sorry for the kids up the three darts.

there have not been any other sport for the 37-year-old, who today lives in Uppsala and is competing for Stockholmsklubben SSDC.

I like this man-against-man-thing. You compete against someone and whoever is best wins simply. There is no assessment or so. The one who hits the best wins.

– Well, some are, and change the tempo, sometimes throws it fast, and sometimes throws it slowly. But the smartest thing is to focus on their own pace, " says Daniel Larsson, who practice about an hour a day on a track he has at home.

Now, he meets Robert Thornton, a very well qualified 51-year-old scotsman who of the gaming companies are the big favourite to win the match in the first round.

Daniel Larsson meets the highly qualified Robert Thornton in the first round of the world CUP. Photo: Shane Healey/Rex

" He has been a good pupil, but his career is well on the way to the end. He was long ranked in the top ten in the world, now he is well outside the top 30, " says Daniel Larsson, who describes his own form as very good.

" I feel that your confidence is on top. But if I get nervous at the whole situation, then maybe I can go after. He is accustomed to at this much more than I do. He has probably played 200 games on these scenes and I have five.

one of just six players who managed to get from 501 points to zero points and end of nine arrows (see box). With fewer arrows, it is not possible.

" It was a wonderful feeling. It is like making a hole in one in golf, or 300 points in a series in bowling, but it is more rarely to be able to manage it.