BY
Cheryl Nya

Deputy Editor

Hype Issue #60

Published on

November 22,

2024

Pay Yu Xuan, 19, the youngest Premier DARTSLIVE ambassador and national Darts player. Photo by NJ Eshani.

What does your bullseye look like? For some, it could come in the form of a scholarship or an academic achievement. Perhaps it’s a championship in your CCA and scoring long-lasting friendships. For Pay Yu Xuan, 19, her bullseye simply lies on a dartboard.

“I just thought it was different …, who would’ve thought to play Darts as a sport?” Yu Xuan, explains on how she picked up the sport. What began as a casual interest quickly turned into a remarkable journey that propelled her to the international stage at just 18 years of age. She is now the youngest Darts player representing Singapore.

Yu Xuan (middle) beginning her competitive Darts journey representing Singapore Polytechnic. Photo courtesy of Pay Yu Xuan.

Her Darts career started as a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA). “SP was the only Poly in Singapore that had Darts as a CCA and I thought that was really cool,” Yu Xuan recounts, “I started as a leisure player, but as I played, I saw myself getting closer to the target. Playing Darts [continuously] fuelled my sense of self-improvement and I just kept thinking that I could go further. That’s how I got hooked on it.”

Yu Xuan wins the runner-up position in the Ladies Cricket Open category at the Hong Kong International Darts Festival. Photo courtesy of Pay Yu Xuan.

Like every remarkable athlete, Yu Xuan’s pursuit of success has not been easy. “Darts is a mental game,” she says, “Especially during competitions. It’s so easy to start overthinking. When that happens, you might go into self-destruction mode and it’s hard to [focus on the target]. Sometimes when I’m in front of so many cameras and I see myself on the big screen, I really feel the nerves and start to be self-conscious. I cannot show any signs of nervousness.” 

Not only has she had internal battles to fight, but her parents were also initially unsupportive of her dreams. With the game being tied closely to stereotypes such as drinking and smoking, Yu Xuan’s parents were afraid she might pick up unhealthy habits and had to think twice about allowing her to commit to the sport.

Yu Xuan secures the champion position, in the selection for Singapore’s National Darts Team. Photo courtesy of Pay Yu Xuan. 

However, the turning point came in December last year, when Yu Xuan was chosen to represent Team Singapore in the Hong Kong International Darts Festival. Her hard work and dedication paid off when she emerged as champion in the selection process, successfully proving her capabilities and showing her parents how passionate she truly was for the sport. 

After witnessing Yu Xuan’s potential, her parents eventually gave up their resistance.Seeing that she had a dream and she was about to conquer it, Yu Xuan instilled a deep confidence in them. From initially keeping away her passport to granting her permission and even giving her an allowance to compete overseas, her parents became her greatest support system. 

The mental toll and pressure is unfortunately something that every athlete has to go through, no matter how much you enjoy your sport. “This is not a stable incline. You’re always going up and down, it’s not easy at all,” Yu Xuan replies when asked how she overcame her challenges. “Having a strong belief system is very important to me. I know that I’ve spent a lot of time training, so I [have] learned  to believe in myself. I really can do it. And this self-confidence didn’t just appear out of nowhere. I’m constantly working on it and my friends and family are the support system who encourages me.” 

Sharing her perspective on the beauty of Darts, Yu Xuan hits home: ”You can only hit your target if you believe you can. In this game, success is when you focus on mind over body.”

Yu Xuan (left) with the players of Team Singapore in Hong Kong. Photo courtesy of Pay Yu Xuan.

Although Yu Xuan is an exceptional Darts player with immense potential, a fact stubbornly remains: The ‘Darting’ scene in Singapore is extremely limited.

“Something that didn’t really sit well with me was that [Darts] is still too niche for the government to be supporting it, and the youths who are potentially national-level players don’t have [enough opportunities] to compete internationally,” she says. 

Yu Xuan recalls the time she applied for a Leave Of Absence from her classes to compete in a tournament overseas. As Darts is not recognised as a sport under the National Sports Association, her appeal was unfortunately rejected. “It’s something I hope can change,” Yu Xuan shares sincerely.

Yu Xuan (top row, second from the left) teaching the HYPE team how to play darts as a Premier DARTSLIVE ambassador. Photo courtesy of Pay Yu Xuan.

In that effort, Yu Xuan has worked hard to prove her capabilities and has successfully qualified to be an Ambassador for DARTSLIVE, a company that provides the dartboards you see around in most SAFRA National Service Associations and bars. Not only is Yu Xuan the youngest Premier DARTSLIVE Ambassador, she is also the only female Ambassador. “Though females [tend to be] less dominant in the sport, I do hope to see more start to play Darts,” she shares.

Determined to grow the darts community and raise the sport’s profile in Singapore, Yu Xuan has made a bold and generous move by launching her own workshop, offering free Darts lessons to new players. “Many people don’t have [access] to learning the basics, like your stance, [or] the way you hold your dart, for example. Even the current Darts players … I just wanted to help by giving them a foundation to keep playing. I like teaching and talking to people too. That’s why I opened my Darts clinic, even though I don’t earn [a salary] from it.”

“I would love to play Darts as a career in [the] future but [I will] probably have to do it overseas, in … Japan or Hong Kong, where [Darts has] a bigger community and their governments support it,” Yu Xuan shares, “I really hope Darts grows bigger in Singapore and maybe I could even work to become a coach here.”

Hoping to encourage youths who also have a passion, she hopes that everyone can hit their own targets one day. Photo by NJ Eshani.

To the young aspiring athletes looking to follow Yu Xuan’s footsteps and become national athletes, she has this to say: “Follow your passion, because passion is your energy, and it’s what drives you to keep doing what you love every day. In everything, we’re bound to meet setbacks, it’s about how you recover from it. That determines who will be the winners, who will stay ahead and who will fall back. I promise you, your hard work will pay off one day. Keep pushing and be confident! If you don’t believe in yourself then who will believe in you?”