‘Maestro Mailman’ eyes BDO darts glory

Postal January 3 2019

“I’ve got a tough draw, but I’ll do my best,” pledges South West London postman Dave Parletti, as he prepares to take on all-comers at the 2019 BDO Darts Championships at Lakeside next week.

Tuesday afternoon will see him up against either Denmark’s Brian Lokken or Krzysztof Kciuk of Poland in a tricky first-round tie.

“There are three legs (single 501s) to a set, Round One is the best of five sets and the number of sets rises as you go on,” explains Dave, who is the 11th seed heading into the big tournament.

If he prevails on Tuesday, former world champion Scott Mitchell could lie in wait in the second round, followed by a potential clash with number three-ranked Jim Williams in the quarters, and then a likely encounter with last year’s BDO tournament winner and this year’s bookie’s favourite Glen Durrant in the last four.

“If I can get that far, I’ll be confident of going all the way – but for now I’m just focussing on each round as it comes,” he insists, refusing to make predictions.

After representing England in 2016, illness ruled him out of action for much of the following year, but last season saw the ‘Maestro Mailman’ grab four tournament wins, taking the Jersey Classic, Welsh Masters, Isle of Man Masters and Wolverhampton Open.

And while winning four trophies in one season was “fantastic,” Dave says that “representing my country was my proudest darts moment – and I really hope I’ll have that opportunity again.”

With all his colleagues at Mortlake Delivery Office cheering him on – and the rest of the CWU’s South West London Postal Branch eagerly awaiting next Tuesday’s ‘bully-off’, our contender has some appreciative words for them too.

“When I was ill with peritonitus and off work sick, my CWU branch secretary Greg Charles and everyone at CWU and my workmates were very supportive and Greg really helped to straighten things out for me work-wise.

“So I want to say a massive thank you to the CWU and I promise you all I’ll do my very best at Lakeside next week.”