Marlins take top spot in NCD Darts competition

By JAMIE HARO
MARLINS have taken the top spot of the National Capital District Darts Association competition after defeating defending champions K180 Falcons in a tie-breaker.
Competition coordinator Baxter Torie said it was a really tough match on Sunday.
“The K180 Falcons are the back-to-back champions while Marlins were recently elevated to premier level after claiming the division 1 title in last year’s grand final,” Torie said.
“Teams are becoming competitive at this stage and it’s also raising the standard of darts at this point.”
Torie said with 16 more matches to conclude round one, teams were now building their confidence.
The match between Marlins and Falcons was a nail-biting fixture with both teams tasked to compete in a best of 11 sets. It came down to the wire with a 5-5 draw where the final leg was determined through a singles.
Marlins had Elvis Nanai taking on Falcons’ Ezra Rava to break the tie, with Nanai wining the first two sets for Marlins to be awarded a point to win 6-5.
Meanwhile, in the elite singles challenge, Kini Rava takes the lead registering six wins in the competition followed by Scott Winnie, George Labanai, John Paliau and Joseph Keke in the men’s top five.
The woman’s top five elite singles now see Martha Sere taking the lead over current female singles national champ Loa Joel in second place while Lavinia Mauri, Nelly Moale and Laura Nigs round up the top five.
NCD’s current singles champion 13-year-old Sarah Pepena is sitting on sixth spot in a field of 24 elite players.