AsianDarts

Welcome to all readers from AsianDarts. Today, we have a special interview with a very inspirational player: Mahi Bosmia from India. The interview has been recorded by Wim Blokpoel from Dartfreakz and you can watch it below in the article. This article will be an addition to the interview with more facts about Mahi but also some points about darts in India, one of the things we talked about with Mahi and Piyush Bosmia off camera. We hope you enjoy reading about Mahi and we also hope to explain more about the situation of darts in India.

Mahi, 17 years old from Calcutta, India, started out darts when she was young. Her father, Piyush Bosmia, started out playing darts together with his wife in 2015 and Mahi accompanied them to tournaments which sparked an interest for darts with herself as well. Her father noticed this and started teaching Mahi darts as well as entering her into various youth tournaments. It turned out she is talented and after winning her first title, Mahi really found the joy of darts, eventually leading her to the Dutch Open in Assen. Mahi is still studying besides all this as well, studying at The Bhawanipur College in Calcutta. They also sponsor her for her international trips. Mahi states she is very much thankful to them as without such support it is impossible to participate in such events.

Financial support is really important in Indian darts. One of the things we spoke about off camera at the Dutch Open was about the AIDA. AIDA (All Indian Darts Association) is one of the darts organisations in India and the one who is affiliated to the WDF (World Darts Federation). If a player qualifies for a tournament (Mahi did for the WDF World Cup in Denmark), they have to pay AIDA a fee firstly, otherwise they’ll be thrown out of the selection.

Piyush adds that Mahi was asked to pay charges higher than what WDF were offering to all international players and upon asking the Indian authorities about detailed expenses to understand why it is higher than it should be, no reply on same was received from authorities but instead later we came to know that someone else was selected in her place without properly informing to us for same reason around 4 players including manager for the tour backed out understanding there in less clarity on why the extra funds were asked.

This is one of the reasons why the best players from India don’t get a lot of exposure and instead, players who hit 30-40 averages but have more money can go. Combine this with really expensive flights because VISAS don’t come in early enough, expensive hotel costs and the players having to pay pretty much everything out of their own pockets. The AIDA always preferred players not to play at other tournaments as well, sometimes even resulting in forbidding players to play other tournaments and banning them from the organisation. Piyush notes that a positive change happened over the last year in this matter: ‘Things from last one year has changed in AIDA for now as since last year they are allowing other players to play AIDA and also they are allowing their regular players to play other organisers events. All thanks to the efforts given by IDC to improve players standard and giving more opportunities to players.‘ This resulted in Mahi being able to play more tournaments in India and winning every tournament she entered for the last two years in both ladies and youth category.

Speaking to Nitin Kumar recently, we discovered that the same process is happening to players who want to play PDC Qualifiers and now, the top players have started their own organisation. The IDC, the Indian Darts Council, is now the place where the best players of India play at. Kumar: ‘The IDC hold close to 30to40 tournaments a year. This includes Nationals, State Championships, Inter-Club events and a Premier League kind of tournament. But sadly, the IDC is not affiliated with either the WDF or the PDC, making it hard for top players to participate in big tournaments.’ 

India is a growing darts country with many good players, but the IDC and their players do not have as many opportunities as they would like internationally. We hope our readers will start following the IDC tournaments closely on Facebook or YouTube where matches get posted every now and then.

Mahi is only 17 years old but winning big time in India at the tournaments she enters. Last year, she decided to take steps to play more tournaments internationally and there took second place at the MOJO (Malaysian Open / Johor Open) in Malaysia. In the interview below she talks more about her experiences at that tournament. Mahi plans to play the PDC Women’s Series in the future as well, taking on the best ladies in the world. She had a glimpse of that during the 2024 Dutch Open Darts, where she played and beat the likes of Jo Rolls and Sharona Veld, making the Last 16 alongside names like Beau Greaves, Aileen de Graaf, Noa-Lynn van Leuven and Kirsty Hutchinson. After an outstanding performance in the ladies singles, more and more people started talking about her and knowing who she is. Mahi eventually lost out 4-1 to Rhian O’Sullivan. We also spoke to Mahi after that, saying that more and more people know who she is now and making the Last 16 for the first time at such a big tournament and also at the age of 17 is an amazing accomplishment. Mahi: ‘Thank you so much, this was my goal; to let people know who I am, give a good performance and especially playing for India. I want to show people that there are good players in India, so I’m proud to play for my country.’

Even though Mahi is very talented, it’s not always easy for her to come to international tournaments because of the above. Still, she’s a positive young lady who really wants to show what she is capable of, hoping to play the PDC Women’s Series and find her way to the biggest tournaments in the world.

It was so nice to meet someone who is so proud of her country and we hope Mahi will get all the chances she deserves in the future. And of course, we’ll keep on following Mahi through her darts journey.