Nitin Kumar has written darts history at Alexandra Palace. The 40-year-old Indian player became the first from his country to win a match at the World Darts Championship last weekend, defeating Richard Veenstra 3-2 in a five-set thriller. Now he faces his biggest test yet: world number four Stephen Bunting awaits on Saturday evening in the second round.
The victory at Ally Pally fulfilled a decades-long dream for Kumar, nicknamed "The Royal Bengal". He landed nine of his 12 shots at double to overcome Veenstra, brushing off five ton-plus checkouts from his opponent. The win came at his fifth attempt at the World Championship – after losses in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and a first-set victory last year against Martin Lukeman.
Kumar was born in Chennai but grew up in Coimbatore before his family relocated to Dubai, where he now works and dedicates himself to darts. He started playing at age ten and has competed for nearly three decades, turning professional in 2016. The Dubai darts scene has kept him sharp, with tournaments three or four days a week.
«I play a lot of local tournaments back in Dubai, where I work, and my averages there are great, but no one sees that,» Kumar said. «You're supposed to go there, work and save money – you can't. You're just playing darts all the time. Match practice has affected me, but it's different on the World Championship stage. It's different at Ally Pally.»
The Bunting challenge
Kumar enters Saturday's match as a 10/1 underdog against Bunting, who squandered a two-set lead against Sebastian Bialecki in his opening match before winning 3-2 in a tiebreak. The pair have met before – Bunting won 6-2 in legs at the Bahrain Darts Masters in January.
Bunting praised Kumar's contribution to the sport. «Nitin is a fantastic player. What he's done for Indian darts is exceptional,» Bunting said. «I've known him for quite a few years now, and we played each other in Bahrain. Luckily I was I was able to win that game.»
The world number four anticipates strong crowd support for the historic occasion. «But the World Championship is so different. I'm really looking forward to playing. He had the crowd on his side in the first round, I'm sure that when we play, the crowd will all be going Bunting Mental.»
Vision for Indian darts
Kumar acknowledged room for improvement despite his breakthrough. «I don't think the game against Richard is the best that I have played. I know I can play better,» he said. «Lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. I'll take the positives, but I know I need to be more consistent on my triples.»
His ambitions extend beyond personal achievement. «Hopefully this will open the floodgates to a billion players from India,» Kumar said. «In 10 years' time, if you have eight people in the World Championship walking on to Bollywood music or Punjabi, don't blame me. It's happening!»
The player who walks on to "Mundian To Bach Ke" by Panjabi MC credits the Luke Littler boom for raising his standard and increasing tournament activity in Dubai. He has represented India at the PDC World Cup of Darts and secured titles on the PDC Asian Tour in 2023 and at the Mongolian Open in 2024.
Kumar remains focused on the immediate challenge. «I don't know what's going to happen but there will be 110 per cent effort from myself and I am going to give it my all, and we'll see what happens.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
