Hutt Valley truckie stuns ex-world champ on Kiwi quinella day at World Series of Darts event

Lower Hutt truck driver Jonny Tata produced a stunning 6-3 upset of two-time world champion Peter Wright at the 2023 New Zealand Darts Masters as the World Series of Darts event began on Friday.

Tata’s triumph over the world No 2 capped a Kiwi quinella with Haupai Puha beating Belgium’s world No 12 Dimitri van dan Bergh, 6.2 in Hamilton’s GLOBOX Arena.

Wright, a 53-year-old Scot who won world titles in 2020 and 2022, has career earnings of around $NZ6 million.

Tata is a 30-year-old with a day job, who was competing on the world stage for the first time.

Tata had only confirmed his place in a first televised event when he came through last month’s DPNZ Qualifiers in Christchurch, but has made an immediate impression on the big stage.

Wright led 2-1 in the early stages, but saw Tata level with a 14-darter and also finish a confident 62 to break in a run of four straight legs to move 5-2 up.

A miss at tops for victory allowed Wright to keep his hopes alive briefly with double 11, but Tata was first to a finish in the next and he took out 84 to seal the biggest result of his career.

“It’s an unreal feeling, I can’t really explain it,” Tata said. “It’s something I thought would never happen, and it did!

“Even to compete against Peter Wright I was happy, so coming out with the win on top is something magical. I’m absolutely thrilled.

“It’s something I was so excited for and I suppose the nerves weren’t there as much as I thought they would have been. Once I got onto stage, everything fell into place.”

Puha, meanwhile, enjoyed his first World Series of Darts win in New Zealand after overcoming Van den Bergh with a five-leg burst.

Van den Bergh led 2-1 in the early stages, finishing 86 in the opener before hitting six perfect darts in an 11-darter in leg three.

Puha, though, finished 110, 112 and 126 in three of the next four legs as he surged into a 5-2 lead, before completing a huge win on double one in the next.

“It’s awesome,” said Puha. “To do what I did in front of the New Zealand crowd is an honour and a privilege.

“I’m very happy – it’s one of the best moments of my career. I treated it like it was just another game in the garage.

“The practice wasn’t too good but getting up there I was hitting what I wanted to hit – I did the checkouts that I needed to do.”

Tata and Puha will now compete for the NZ Darts Masters title in Saturday’s final stages after delighting the GLOBOX Arena crowd with their success.

Tata will meet another former world champion, Rob Cross, in the quarterfinals on Saturday after the English star overcame veteran Kiwi Warren Parry 6-3.

Price’s quarter-final opponent will be Danny Noppert, who proved too strong for DPNZ number one Ben Robb with one of the most impressive performances of the opening night in Hamilton.

The Dutch star finished 118 in the opening leg and took out 120 during a clinical four-leg burst which moved him 5-1 up.

A missed match dart allowed Robb to hit back, but the New Zealander was unable to continue his revival as Noppert progressed.

World Champion Michael Smith was taken all the way to a deciding leg by World Series debutant Darren Penhall before edging into the last eight with a narrow 6-5 triumph.

DPA number one Penhall took the game’s opening two legs before a 120 checkout for a 12-darter sparked Smith into life as he took the next three.

The pair traded the next five legs as the tie moved to a sudden-death leg, where Smith fired in his fourth 180 before posting double eight to complete a hard-fought win.

He now meets Australia’s Damon Heta, who ended the hopes of New Zealand’s Darren Herewini to book a quarter-final spot, taking a 3-0 lead before wrapping up a 6-2 win with a 110 checkout.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be held on Saturday.