Darts champ lauds Wairarapa talent

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Nobody was surprised when Greg Moss won the the inaugural Kuripuni Sports Bar and TAB singles darts tournament.

Long regarded one of the country's top players and a regular in New Zealand teams from 2008 to 2011, the 44-year-old Moss, who plays out of the Masterton Cosmopolitan Club, was a warm favourite to despatch his 19 rivals and he did not disappoint last weekend.

He won all eight of his matches by comfortable margins, including a 6-2 success over George Hawkins of Masterton in the final.

But while pleased with his form, Moss was quick to praise the competitiveness of many of his opponents, saying the high level of play illustrated the depth of talent in Wairarapa.

"There were quite a few games where I had to rev myself up, it wasn't all one-sided," he said. "We've had some really good players come out of Wairarapa over the years and the current lot are right up there.

"It wasn't just a matter of turning up and winning, it was a lot tougher than that."

His victory continued a solid run of form for Moss this year.

Last month, he won the Canterbury Classic singles title while, in March, he combined with his father, Neville Moss, at Whangamata to take the North Island pairs title for the third time, making them the only father-and-son combination to have managed a hat-trick in that particular event.

Greg Moss has also won the New Zealand Masters title on three occasions and the New Zealand open singles title once, while on the international scene he has made the last 128 in a World Cup singles and the semifinals of the Asia Pacific Cup singles.

Keen to win back his place in the New Zealand side, Moss is targeting the national championships in Rotorua next month as a chance to advance his claims.

"There are a couple of major singles titles up for grabs there and it would be nice to do well in them. I'm pretty happy where the form is at but there are never any guarantees. It's over to me, that's all there is to it."