A 14-year-old darts sensation, Ayomide Ogunnowo, has set her eyes on competing at the World Darts Championship.

“The dream of any athlete is to appear on the world stage. I want to represent Lagos at the biggest event of the game of darts,” stated the youngster. “I have seen many Nigerians at the peak of their careers in other sports. I want to be like them.”

Ogunnowo emerged double gold medalist at the just-concluded Lagos State Open Darts Championships held at Sports Bar, Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Ogunnowo had represented Lagos State Darts Association as an amateur player and won a silver medal at the first Inspector-General of Police Darts Competition on November 29.

The teenager, a Senior Secondary School II student of Covenant Child Academy, Ijesha, clinched gold medals at the junior and senior categories of the competition.

“I am happy with my progress in the game of darts, I started practising darts about two years ago. I am happy that I am able to win two gold medals in different categories this year. Darts involves rigour. I practice so as to be precise enough for the target numbers on the board,” said Ogunnowo. “I started attending competitions when I felt I had gathered enough mental strength to compete with those that are older, even some as old as my father.”

The Lagos State Darts Association’s technical director, Joachim Idada, praised Ogunnowo, describing her as “a fantastic player.”

He added, “We are doing our best to groom her. I can see that she is not afraid to play against older players because of her confidence.”

(NAN)