Q & A September 2021: Wilco Wassink

Wim Blokpoel - After 3 months waiting it’s finally time for a new monthly Q & A! Our guest this month is paradarts expert, paradarts player and Mastercaller predictions organiser Wilco Wassink! Enjoy reading, as this is a very very nice read!

1. How did you start watching darts? (Wim Blokpoel)

I think the first time I started to follow the darts was in January 2006, I was 12 years old and saw Jelle Klaasen who won the Lakeside world professional Darts Championship, after that I wasn't always following the darts but I made up for it later on by watching a lot of old games and reading about it. Then I lost a bit of interest in the game and it wasn't easy to watch it in the Netherlands (it was behind a pay wall). In 2013 I started to watch it again a bit more, and in December 2015 I did play my first tournament.

2. Who is the best paradarts player of all time? (Paul)

That's hard to say, in the Netherlands we started with paradarts in 2015 so it is relatively young, so calling a best player of all time is nearly impossible. There are always some people really important for the game. Like Vincent d'Hondt from Belgium who has back-to-back Winmau world masters titles in 2015 and 2016, Ricky Chilton from Wales also former world master winner and Kwang-Hee Cho from South-Korea who won the first Winmau World Championship in Assen in 2020 and the Dutch open the next day, and besides that also won the South-Korean open (a tournament for WDF points).

3. What's your opinion on James Wade? (Aman Urazov)

I think I am one of the few people who actually like James Wade, yeah he is not always the most cheerful and friendly person on stage but I love his methodical way of playing and he is just like me a lefty, so his love for d10 is relatable for me (I just don't hit it as easy as he does).

4. Who is your role model in darts? (Rien van Nobelen)

Difficult to say, I got massive respect for a lot of players. One of them has to be Aileen de Graaf, she is combining being one of the top players in the world with being mom and also spend a lot of her time on Gforce, a team for paradart players in the Netherlands.

5. Do you think paradarts is getting the attention it deserves? (Sportsfan)

Of course not, but everyone would say the same about their own sport or category. The paradarts has to settle down, and I hope they will cooperate with the WDF to make it possible to play a lot of tournaments national and international with also some tv or streaming attention, but to be honest the game has to be watchable, I wouldn't like to watch my own game but in the top of the paradarts the players throw decent averages what makes it really watchable.

6. If you could choose to win a PDC major except the world championship which one would you choose? (BorussiaDarts)

I love the World Grand Prix, the double in double out format shows who is the smart player and who isn't the brightest, since they have to do the math with different numbers then they are used to.

7. What's the best paradarts performance you've ever seen? (Dartsfan03)

That was the "The Hague Disability Darts Invitational in 2018" match between Vincent D'Hondt and Kees van Wielink. Vincent hit an incredible average of 90.18 on the big stage in front of camera's. You can still find this match on youtube.

8. Which big paradarts tournaments can we expect in the following year? (Wim Blokpoel)

In November there is the Paradarts World Throphy in Oostende Belgium, but other than that I don't know a lot about big tournaments yet, the paradarts was supposed to play at the wdf world masters but that event is cancelled. I think that during 2022 there will be plenty of international open events with also a paradart category.

9. What's your ultimate goal in darts? (Aman Urazov)

I am realistic on my own way of playing, I am not good enough to be a top paradart player but I enjoy the game and want as many games in as many tournaments and countries as possible but without a lot of sponsors that isn't really possible so I have to choose where I play. Besides my own darts I also want to help out the rest of the (para)darts community and increase my network.

10. How would you like to see paradarts in 5 years? What should the sport achieve until then? (Dartsfan03)

With keeping inclusive society in my mind, I hope that in 5 years the paradarts category is a normal category in the WDF circuit with a decent amount of players every tournament and also a good competition on local and national level, the only way to reach that is good cooperation.