Darts again demonstrated its popularity on United Kingdom television last month when Adrian Lewis retained his world singles title.
Eddie Girdler (71), the director of coaching for the New Zealand Darts Association in Dunedin for the past 20 years, would like it to have the same popularity in New Zealand.
He has been the key man in lifting the profile of Otago darts, which has one of the best venues in New Zealand for the sport .
The Otago Darts Association Hall in South Dunedin has 24 dartboards around its walls.
Girdler has also encouraged the junior section of the sport and the Otago Association has donated dartboards to Otago Boys' High School and Kaikorai Valley College. Coaching sessions have been held at OBHS.
The Masters Games darts competition proved popular with 97 players contesting the event.
This included Erica Jones and Frank Mathers from Brisbane, who won a silver medal in the 45 to 54 fours competition.
Girdler demonstrated his skills this week by winning two gold medals. He won the men's pairs in the over-55 grade with Robbie Dick (Tauranga) and the mixed pairs with Barbara Bryson (Dunedin).
A feature of Girdler's play was his consistency. He never had a bad round.
"It doesn't matter what score you have," Girdler said. "It is the person who hits the double at the end that counts."
Girdler emigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1969 and quickly found his niche in Dunedin as a project manager.
One of the highlights of Girdler's competitive career was being a member of the Otago team that won the national zone tournament in the 1980s. He also won the New Zealand championship open pairs in the same decade.
When Eddie Girdler played bowls, he always lived in the shadow of son Paul who played 192 tests for New Zealand.
