Haupai Puha

**Haupai Puha** (born 12 February 1985) is a New Zealand former golf player and current professional darts player who currently plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He qualified for the PDC World Darts Championship and WDF World Darts Championship. He is the gold medalist of the WDF World Cup.

## Career

Puha started his sports career by playing golf. It was only in 2016 that he took part in local darts tournaments for the first time. He effectively transferred his golf experience to darts and in 2017 he reached the semi-finals of the Oceanic Masters. The following year he repeated this result and was also invited to two World Series of Darts events. In his television debut at the 2018 Auckland Darts Masters he lost to Kyle Anderson in the first round match. In the 2018 Melbourne Darts Masters he again lost in the first round match, but this time to Rob Cross. Few months ago he won the Alan King Memorial.

As a leader of the DPNZ rankings, Puha competed alongside Cody Harris at the 2019 PDC World Cup of Darts. There they won confidently against Lithuania and then took South Africa out of the tournament before losing to Japan in the quarter-finals match. At the 2019 Brisbane Darts Masters, Puha lost to Raymond van Barneveld in first round match, and a week later in the 2019 Melbourne Darts Masters he had to admit defeat to the Dutchman again. Even at the premiere of the 2019 New Zealand Darts Masters he lost to Gary Anderson.

As the best player in the New Zealand rankings, Puha qualified for the PDC World Darts Championship. He also represented his country during 2020 PDC World Cup of Darts, where he again played together with Cody Harris. The won their first round match against Denmark, but lost to Canada in the second round. At the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship he lost to Michael Mansell. In 2022, he advanced to the final match of the 2022 PDC Challenge Tour series event, but lost to Steve Haggerty. Thanks to his successes at home tournaments, especially by winning the New Zealand Open, Haupai Puha was able to qualify for the 2022 WDF World Darts Championship for the first time. There he met Ben Hazel in the first round and lost.

A week later, Puha advanced to his first PDC Players Championship. At the 2022 Queensland Darts Masters he defeated Jonny Clayton and reached the quarter-finals for the first time, where he then lost to Michael van Gerwen. At the 2022 New South Wales Darts Masters he lost in the first round match to Jonny Clayton. Thanks to his good performances, he was invited to the 2022 World Series of Darts Finals, where he narrowly lost in the decider against Dirk van Duijvenbode in the first round. At the beginning of February 2023, Puha won the Canterbury Classic before winning an event on the DPNZ Tour at the end of March.

At the beginning of June he won the Canterbury Open, and just a little later he secured his ticket to the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship with his second success at the New Zealand Open. At the beginning of August, Puha took part again at the 2023 New Zealand Darts Masters and achieved victory over Dimitri van den Bergh for the quarter-finals, where he lost to Nathan Aspinall. This was again rewarded with an invitation to the 2023 World Series of Darts Finals, where he made it to the second round and had to admit defeat to Peter Wright.

At the Australian Open he failed in the quarter-finals. A few weeks later, he achieved great success, winning the gold medal in the pairs competition at the 2023 WDF World Cup together with Ben Robb. Shortly afterwards there was another DPNZ title before he won the Oceanic Masters at the end of October and Ted Clements Memorial at the end of November. For the second time in his carrer he qualified for the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship, but he lost in the first round match to Martin Lukeman. In January 2024, he won the PDC Tour Card as the first player from New Zealand.

## World Championship results

### PDC

* 2021: First round (lost to Mickey Mansell 0–3) (sets)
* 2024: First round (lost to Martin Lukeman 1–3)

### WDF

* 2022: First round (lost to Ben Hazel 1–2)