| Wynand
Havenga
The sport of darts needs characters and Wynand Havenga fits
the bill perfectly! The South African is now hoping to build
on what he describes as "the best week of my life!"
The 42-year-old from Cape Town earned his spurs, respect and
recognition with a top class display on his debut at the Ladbrokes.com
World Championship... an experience he described as "awesome"!
And he won himself a lot of British darting fans -
calling themselves The Havenga Boys - with his terrific
run to the last 16 at the last ever World Championship to
be held at The Circus Tavern.
A total unknown before the event - but now South Africa's
No.1 and Havenga is hungry for more. "I had a great
time at Purfleet and it has given me the taste for more. I
was disappointed to lose in the last 16, because I felt I
could reach the quarter-finals."
He became the first ever South African to play at the World
Championship. After winning the SA National title four times,
he qualified for the Circus Tavern by winning the South African
Masters in Johannesburg - beating Paul Meyer 4-1 in
the final.
He was disappointed not to make it to the Alexandra Palace
in 2008 but the South African Masters event is what matters
now for Havenga and he also wants to earn his spot at the
Grand Slam of Darts, after seeing what fellow countryman Charles
Losper achieved during 2007.
It was a great darting adventure at the Circus. Havenga is
a real character and soon made his mark on the World stage.
He beat Steve Maish, then disposed of former World Championship
finalist Peter Manley, before eventually losing to Darren
Webster in the 3rd Round.
It has given the South African the taste for more. It's
been a interesting ride for Havenga. He has represented his
country at the World Cup and in 1999, he was South African
captain when they hosted the event. The came 6th and he won
a bronze medal in the Pairs event. The same year they won
the African Cup and Havenga was named African Player of the
Year.
But despite those achievements, the future of South African
darts looked bleak at that stage and Havenga stopped playing
for three years. He hadn't lost the knack! He again
represented SA in the World Cup and the titles kept on coming
at home. He has been crowned South African Singles Champion
four times and he has won the Doubles title three times.
All of a sudden, his career has received a huge boost. "The
sport in South Africa is good to a certain level. Now with
the involvement of the PDC, Unicorn and Sky Sports, the standard
will definitely improve and more and more people will become
interested."
Away from the oche, Havenga is a business manager for a motor
dealer and is a big rugby union and cricket fan.
He said: "I am very excited to be part of Team Unicorn
and I want to make them proud. To be the face of Unicorn in
Africa is only the start!"
The PDC is ready to invest in South Africa and Havenga wants
a slice of that!
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