Russian Rocket Boris Koltsov Signs With Winmau

Russian rocket Boris Koltsov is bidding to rule the oche world…thanks to fish ’n’ chips and roast beef! Koltsov, 29, gave up a career in basketball but is now jumping through hoops to make sure his arrows prospects make it to the big time. "The Viking" made the headlines with Aleksandr Oreshkin by dumping Australia out of last year’s World Cup. Koltsov, who joins Winmau this week, is now eyeing individual success on the PDC circuit by commuting from Moscow. He revealed: “My father started to play darts in 1994. Before this I played basketball a lot, but in 2011 I decide to try to play darts. And now seven years has passed already, and I’m still playing. “Viking was the name of the first darts club in my city. Now this club doesn't exist anymore and I decided to keep it in memory as my nickname. “The UK is the homeland of darts and there are a lot of strong players here. It attracts me. I don't usually do long breaks in darts, so it is good to play as much as possible. “At the moment I live in Russia with my family. But if I will succeed and I win more and more, the question about moving to another country will become more important. It is not so difficult to travel as flights takes four to six hours. “At the moment I work in the office of the company which sells brand clothes. For me the biggest difference between Moscow and UK is that my family is not with me when I'm in UK. “But the biggest shock is food. I eat everything in Russia, but my favourite food is meat and everything connected to it. “However, the food in UK is very tasty. Some days ago I tasted fish and chips and roast beef, and it was delicious. If I like the food I am happy and my game will improve.” Koltsov joins forces with Winmau and now he hopes his World Cup success can be a springboard for more oche glory - after getting compliments from World No 1 Michael van Gerwen. He added: “I joined Winmau, this is one of the strongest companies in the darts world. And I see their help already. I play with my new darts which I like a lot. “My game has become more stable. This year has not started so good, but anyway it is only February now so a long time to go. “I like to play with strong opponents, you get lessons from all of them and see all the details. Michael is a very strong player, and I was very glad to play against him, and I think every darts player dream about it. “Yes we will remember the game against Australia for a long time. This victory was not easy, I lost in personal game but after I played good in pairs. “But it has been disappointing to lose both my opening World Championship matches at the Ally Pally. However before I have only played abroad two times in a year. Starting this year I will get more and more experience and I will show how I can play. “My favourite moment in a game is when you win it. Finish with double. I get strong positive emotions at that moment! “I would love to be the first Russian World Darts Champion. I think everybody who plays darts dreams about that, and I am not an exception.” For details of the Winmau range in Russia, please contact their distributor OOO Darts.ru – Email: shop@winmau.ru, tel: +7 (495) 960 1979 By Phil Lanning (@lannomedia)