Photo: Brian Odsgaard/PDC Nordic & Baltic
Dmitrijs Žukovs is quite a new name on the Nordic and Baltic Pro Tour, but even so, he has already made quite a name for himself.
It was not until last year, that the name Dmitrijs Žukovs first featured on the Nordic and Baltic Pro Tour, as he participated at the weekend in Latvia.
This season the 46 year old has participated at every event and will also feature in Iceland. And even though his best result this season has been a spot in the round of 32, the Latvian has made quite a name for himself in the European qualifiers. Especially as he qualified for the Austrian Darts Open at the weekend in Sweden last month.
But even though the Latvian still is a new face on the tour, his journey with the darts started much earlier.
“I started playing darts in 2005 at a local pub when I move to Ireland, but only in the winter seasons, as the pub was full of tourists during the summer. It was more like a fun way to pass the time. In 2018 however, I took it to the next level and started travelling for darts competitions in Ireland. In 2019 I become a permanent County Galway team player,” Dmitrijs Žukovs tells pdc-nordic.tv.
The Latvian, originally from Ventspils, then got much bigger ambitions back in 2020, as he watched the World Cup of Darts.
“I watched Madars (Razma) and Janis (Mustafejevs) at the World Cup of Darts and started wonder how to qualify. My teammates also kept saying, that I should give the Nordic and Baltic Pro Tour a go, so I gave it a try in Latvia last year. I really enjoyed the weekend and decided to participate in all five weekends this year – well I said to myself, that I would do the first three and then see how it went. As it went well at the second weekend, I will definitely try all of them now.”
Back in Ireland, Dmitrijs Žukovs is a firefighter, has an Ukrainian wife, with whom he has two kids, a nine year old son and an 11 year old daughter. However he also has a 21 year old daughter in Latvia from a previous relationship.
And with the new found ambitions with the darts, he suddenly have to travel a lot more than before.
Dreaming of Ally Pally
At the moment Dmitrijs Žukovs is number 39 on the PDC Nordic & Baltic rankings, but he has much bigger ambitions for the future.
“I think everyone who participates on the Nordic and Baltic Pro Tour is dreaming about the top 2 spots, and yes I am one of them. I know it won’t be easy, but maybe in a few years.”
“I definitely want to try to be professional darts player. But firstly, I want to see all backgrounds associated with and then decide. I am sure it is not as easy as everyone thinks, as easy as it looks on the pictures or TV. It is massive work and dedication for the players off the stage.”
The focus however, is now on Iceland.
“There are some interesting ET qualifiers. I need to fix my mindset for the Pro Tours, as I found myself performing strange in them at the previous two events. I am also looking forward to see the famous darts club “Bullseye” in Iceland.”
The weekend will feature two Pro Tour events and three European qualifiers, with the first two qualifiers at Friday.
