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Scotland darts international John 'The Highlander' Henderson has been taking part in the Home Tour from his bedroom in Huntly to prepare for the World Cup of Darts


By Craig Christie

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PLAYING a ranking tournament in his own bedroom in Huntly has become the new normal for darts star John Henderson.

Pictured before the coronavirus pandemic in Huntly’s Crown Bar, John Henderson has been competing in tournaments from his own bedroom at home.Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Pictured before the coronavirus pandemic in Huntly’s Crown Bar, John Henderson has been competing in tournaments from his own bedroom at home.Picture: Daniel Forsyth

Big Hendo, who heads to Austria to represent Scotland at the BetVictor World Cup of Darts next week, has been playing in virtual competitions while his sport was in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He has competed in the Home Tour this week, where each player films their own throws from a mobile phone or tablet via a video conferencing app, with the footage screened on the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation) website.

“When I played it a couple of months ago I surprised myself,” he said.

“I didn’t think I would get nervous playing in my own bedroom, but I did and it was just really strange.

“But It was great that they managed to get it up and running because we didn’t know if we were going to get any kind of darts this year.

“I have to have a tablet or a phone facing on to the dart board and I need another one for Darts Connect which is the scoring system that the PDC use.

John Henderson at the Premier League darts in Aberdeen.
John Henderson at the Premier League darts in Aberdeen.

“I’ve got earphones on when I’m playing, which is another thing I’m not a big fan of, but I have to do it for the audio. It’s strange hearing the big 180, but there’s no noise from the crowd, because there is no crowd.

“Once I score, I shout out the score, and the person scoring it is in London and he types it in, and it then comes up on Darts Connect, and that’s where everybody can watch the scores coming through.

“There’s not many sports where you can do this. Snooker players can’t do it, football players can’t do it, so we are lucky that way.

“It’s not the same but at least it is competitive darts and it gives me that practice for the World Cup.”

“It’s just been a really weird year.”

Henderson will team up with Robert Thornton as the Scotland duo selected to replace world champion Peter Wright and fellow top ranker Gary Anderson in the team for the World Cup, beginning on November 6.

Wright and Anderson won the tournament for Scotland last year, but withdrew from playing this year due to the ongoing pandemic.

Henderson and Thornton take on Japanese pair Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada.


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