The Hungarian Darts Association welcomes more than 300 competitors from 22 countries to the 25th Dreher Hungarian Open, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
At the association’s press conference on Tuesday, the president Gábor Balázs said that the Dreher Hungarian Open WDF ranking competition is the only competition in the sport that was organized even during the Covid-19 pandemic, so it has been continuously present in the sports calendar since 1999.
“The competition is the last chance for the competitors to get a place at the WDF World Championship in Lakeside, England at the beginning of December. At the event, the participants will show their skills in ten point-scoring categories, including paradarts, in the fencing hall of the Honvéd Dózsa György út,” said the president. He added that in 2024, the association will organize 8 adult and 9 youth point-scoring competitions, thus becoming the largest competition organizer in the region and Europe, helping domestic players to compete more effectively.
Gábor Balázs greeted József Rucska, the team member of Lehel Kámán and József Rucska, who won the sports history bronze medal at the World Cup held in Denmark in September. The pair won the first Hungarian adult championship medal, which József Rucska said was the result of conscious work. He emphasized that he and his partner understood each other so well that they hardly had to communicate during the competition.
The president mentioned about the WDF World Championship between December 2 and 10, in 2022 Veronika Ihász wrote sports history by qualifying, and this year five Hungarian players can participate in Lakeside. Veronika Ihász for the women, Patrik Kovács and Gábor Takács for the men, Krisztina Turai for the youth girls, András Borbély for the youth boys. Since the semi-finals and the final for the boys, and only the final for the girls, are played in conjunction with the adult World Cup, two Hungarian medals are already certain. The president emphasized that Hungary is the only nation that can participate in the World Championship in all four categories.
World Cup bronze medalist József Rucska, the coach-husband of Veronika Ihász, told MTI that a month before the World Cup, the financing has not yet been resolved, although the association is doing everything to support the competitors.
“The search for a sponsor is underway, we are confident that a sponsor will be found, and the state aid will also arrive,” said József Rucska.
(MTI)
