Sport. Darts the sport for modern Robin Hoods

There is no attempt at darts - the English have superiority. They have "pegged" this affair since 17^th century already. As they say, this is a scientific fact. However then there is an area of hypotheses and guesswork. For example, where and under what circumstances was this game born? One can assume that it was born on an evening, probably in winter, when the forest brothers - Robin Hoods and other people had nothing to do. They were sitting in pubs, drinking beer, telling jokes. When this activity finally bored them, some witty man cut out a bull's head from a wooden bar and after shortening ordinary arrows, started throwing them at this target. He was immediately joined by his comrades who were delighted - what a cool game! King of England Henry VIII and King of France Charles VI were among the best players. In 1908 darts was acknowledged as a popular kind of sports and leisure.

Today darts is an essential part of the British lifestyle. There are thousands of darts-clubs in England that have their own logos, sport uniforms and membership rules. Numerous tournaments are held: from a championship in the village to a professional championship of the country. Conformably the prizes are also different: from a small barrel of beer to the title of lord and the order of Saint Garter which was awarded to the legend of world darts, the repeated world champion Eric Bristow by the Queen of England. The secret of its popularity is simple - the game is accessible to people of all ages, one can master the rules in two hours. No special premises are needed: one can play in a cafe, club or in one's own apartment.

The contests are conducted according to the so-called Olympic system - the loser drops out unconditionally. Consolatory tournaments are not provided. Nevertheless, there is always an opportunity to continue the fight - in the pair or mixed categories. Only the sportsman can deprive himself of this chance. If he gives up… than he can join the refereeing. This is because it is specially specified in the regulations that the darts man who lost in a duel does not leave tha game zone and has to perform as a referee on the next match.

Now let's talk a little bit about the rules. They are simple and practically do not give the opportunity for a twofold interpretation. This is why moot points rarely arise even on the most impressive contests. Basically they come to the question of who has to start the game first. In the rules this is specified as follows: each player throws a dart at the target before the match begins. The one who hit closer to the center begins. In the difficult cases rulers are used or the participants repeat the throw again.

The winner is determined as follows: each player enters the hitting zone having 301 or 501 points on his score. It is necessary to reduce them as soon as possible. Whoever "closed the game" first is a fine fellow. This is the most difficult moment as this can be done only by hitting "double" (outer ring, doubling) so that the received number of points reduced the score to zero.

The competition among men and women consists of 5 sets. As a rule, men start the game from 501 points. In the pair contests the counting out starts from 701 points. The rapid development of electronics turned ordinary darts into a super modern game - the automatic computation of points and programmed rules of the game. Having become available, darts still gathers old friends together. After all it is not without reason that in the tradition of darts each game begins and ends with handshake. Unfortunately, in Uzbekistan this kind of sports is not advanced because of the peculiarities of national character. This is why you can play darts only in a few places in Tashkent, for example, in Ragu Bar or Irish Pub Patrik's.