Darts - Seychelles welcomes five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld |14 June 2017

Dutch darts legend and five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld was welcomed to Seychelles yesterday morning at the Seychelles International Airport and it is expected that his presence here will greatly enhance the development of the sport.

Known as ‘Barney’, the Dutch legend, who is considered as one of the best darts players in history and has won the World Darts Championship five times, arrived on the main island of Mahé aboard Air Seychelles from Düsseldorf.

He was welcomed by a delegation which included principle secretary for youth and sports Fabian Palmyre; the special advisor for sports, Jean Larue; Maja Gedosev, general manager of sales, distribution and corporate affairs at Air Seychelles; Jeffrey Payet, manager at Sporting Life who initiated the visit; and Derek Barbé, general manager at Savoy Resort and Spa.

Mr Van Barneveld was then joined in a press conference by Air Seychelles manager for corporate social responsibility, Josie Michaud-Payet and Mr Payet.

Mrs Michaud Payet explained that is was Mr Payet who came to Air Seychelles with the project and there was no hesitation on their part to accept it due to Air Seychelles’ aim of supporting such initiatives.

Mr Van Barneveld said: “I just want to thank everyone and Jeffrey for the invitation. We were very curious to come here as we have been flying all over the world. As I have no idea of the level of darts here in Seychelles, I want to help to improve the level of the sport here.”

When asked about what darts fans can expect from his visit, Mr Van Barneveld explained that he wants players to just meet him and talk to him and being here in person will make it easier for him to offer his experience and support.

Mr Payet on his part said: “Today is a great day for Seychelles’ sports and I hope this will increase the popularity of darts in Seychelles and get more young people involved.”

“This is actually a family thing as my son and I are sports enthusiasts. So we decided to make our contributions, starting with the basketball academy and then we decided that we want to bring darts to a higher level,” Mr Payet noted.

He added: “Darts is a very popular sport, although it is not too popular here, but I hope that Raymond’s visit here will help improve that.”

“Barney comes to Seychelles after clinching the World Cup with his partner and world number one Michael van Gerwen last June 4 and so this is great for Seychelles sports as he will launch The Raymond Van Barneveld Foundation. The objective is to have more people take up darts as a sport and also encourage the young generation to take up sports,” he continued.

 Meanwhile, Seychelles Darts Association chairman Paul Vidot said they are being helped a lot by Mr Van Barneveld’s visit as he is also bringing a number of equipment for them to use as well.

“He will be meeting all local darts players next Monday at the Bel Air community centre so he can get an idea of the challenges we face and maybe he might get to compete with some of us,” he added.

In a communiqué sent by Air Seychelles, its chief executive Roy Kinnear, who was absent yesterday, said: “We are delighted to welcome Barney, one of the most successful darts players in the world, to our archipelago.”

He added: “Air Seychelles is a firm believer that sports are a fantastic tool to help children develop positive values and we are confident this visit will inspire our darts players on the islands. We worked closely together with our partners such as Sporting Life and Savoy to make this trip possible and are looking forward to the first clinics taking place.”

After the press conference, Mr Van Barneveld received from Mrs Michaud-Payet a model Air Seychelles airplane as token of appreciation for his visit.

S. N.