The Taniwha Darts Association (TDA) has decided not to make the Northland Darts Open a New Zealand ranking event, continuing the competition's legacy of being one of the biggest and most lucrative tournaments of its kind.
The annual event, which was held in March, pulled in 120 male and female competitors and featured a prize pool of $5000. As it was not a ranking event, the tournament draw was made through random selection rather than through seedings.
In March, the TDA had orginially planned to work in association with the New Zealand Darts Council (NZDC) to make the tournament a ranking event which would increase the funding the competition received as well as giving the winning players points towards their national and international ranking.
The local association has since decided to keep the tournament an open and unranked competition to encourage the participation of new darts players as well as remaining in control of how the competition is run.
"I just believe we've got something special here," TDA president Paul Baker said.