On January 13th 2024, something really exciting happened: For the first time, a player from Kazakhstan participated in the PDC Asian Tour. Violetta Chsherbakova participated in Asian Tour 02, which was held in Dubai. In 2020, AsianDarts was made as a platform for darts in as many Asian countries possible, but it’s not always easy to find the right information on darts in certain countries. But after months of preparation, searching, translating, talking and interviewing, I am proud to have written an article about darts in Kazakhstan. Please enjoy.
Picture: Grouppicture with players at the 2nd Shakespeare Darts Cup
First, let’s start in 1989 when Kazakhstan was part of the the Soviet-Union, or the USSR. This year, the Wall of Berlin fell and East and West Germany became one united country again. After that more and more regions of the Soviet Union started declaring their independency, with Kazakhstan doing so in 1990. In 1991 the USSR dissolved and Kazakhstan became one of the new countries in Asia. Violetta Chsherbakova, the first player from Kazakhstan on the Asian Tour, was actually born in the USSR. ‘My city was given to Kazakhstan in 1991 and therefor I’ve been a citizen from Kazakhstan since 1991. I used to work in a casino and my hobbies were playing hockey, soccer and helping my father out in the garage. Seeing a dartboard for the first time reminded me of those hobbies, and my love for numbers’. Chsherbakova started playing darts when she lived in Abu Dhabi, so she has never played darts in Kazakhstan before. In Abu Dhabi, she plays local leagues among the men, trying to combine this with being a single mother of two. ‘The plan was originally to fly to the Philippines to play there as well, but the plans changed at the last moment. I can be hard to manage, so I was only able to play in Asian Tour 02.’
In 1994, American ‘John Strafford’ moved to Kazakhstan for work. He was already playing darts in the USA before he moved and started playing darts on Saturdays at KIMEP University. Anyone willing to pay the fee was welcome, so not just students. In 1995, Strafford organized his own mini league together with other expats. Over the years new pubs opened and a few of them installed dart boards (but most of them did not have darts to throw with, so Strafford sometimes left his old darts at pubs for other people to play). Mad Murphys which opened in 1998 had two boards and again there were some mini leagues with a mixture of locals and expats. Strafford: ‘Some very good darts players from the Kazakhstan Darts Team would play and there were some competitions organized at different venues. The ladies champion of Kazakhstan played a lot of tournaments and really tried to push the sports. But the sports in Kazakhstan that actually got pushed by the government are tennis and golf. There is a lot of interest in Martial Arts as well.’ In Kazakhstan, the National Darts Federation is part of the Archery Federation and they’re not planning to invest in darts anytime soon. Yelzhan Maulenov, the main organizer of the Shakespear Cup in Almaty, confirms this: ‘We contacted them multiple times, but we stopped our attempts. They’re not dealing with darts currently’.
Picture: Shakespeare Pub
Maulenov, together with a group of other darts enthousiasts, didn’t give up and went to the Shakespeare Pub to ask if it was okay to hold a couple of tournaments at the pub. With their own time and money, they gave it a try and now there have been two succesful editions of the tournament, which also holds a ranking. During the second tournament, not only expats and locals played, but also players from other parts of Kazahkstan like Astana (the current capital). Even two players from Uzbekistan joined the tournament and ended up runner up at the pairs competition and winning the Main Tournament and the Women’s Tournament. ‘Actually we were hoping for some players from Mongolia to come to the 3rd tournament, but they will play at the Nippon Darts Festival which is held on the same days. So maybe next time.’
Picture: The Shakespeare Darts Cup, players in action
Will it be possible for Kazakhstan to get darts to the next level? The Shakespeare Cup is becoming more and more international and is an Open Tournament as well. Everyone can participate in it. Strafford says: ‘This group of organizers and players are mainly younger people. If they keep this up, I can see them getting darts to the next level in a couple of years.’ Maulenov would be interested in working towards joining the WDF in the future, but this could be very hard due to the national federation and the government not showing any interest in darts at all.
So a lot has happened to darts in Kazakhstan over the past 35 years, sometimes being more popular than other times. But now it seems that darts in Kazakhstan is on the rise again, with the first player on the Asian Tour playing for the country and the hard work of the Shakespeare Darts Club.
The third Shakespeare Tournament will be held on 17-18th August 2024. For anyone wishing to join, the location is: The Shakespeare Pub at Almaty, Dostyk Ave., 40 . Participation fee is 5000 tenge.
Recaps from the previous two tournaments can be found here on YouTube.
Special thanks for this article goes out to Nitin Kumar, Violetta Chsherbakova, Yelzhan Maulenov and John Strafford for getting me in touch with the right people, their time and dedication to answer questions as well as sending all the information on the Shakespear Cup, pictures, etc. It wouldn’t have been possible without all of you!
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