IT was a proud moment as Denton disability darts player Phil Lees finally made his England debut in the Covid-19 delayed inaugural World ParaDarts Winmau Trophy.
The event in Ostend, Belgium, originally planned for November, belatedly took place six months later than planned.
“To put on an England shirt is the dream of every schoolboy, and something I had always wanted to do,” explained Phil.
“And it is not bad to finally achieve it at the age of 60.”
Phil and Wolverhampton’s Amar Dehar, competing for England B, reached the semi-finals of the wheelchair pairs where they lost to opponents from Hungary.
They had earlier won all three group games including beating a pair representing the United States.
Phil, who also competed in the standing and wheelchair singles competitions, is in his first full year of throwing from a wheelchair.
And he is already fourth in the UK wheelchair rankings and sixth in the world list.
Phil, who is president of the Audenshaw and Denton Darts League, added representing England was another tick to his bucket list.
“I have played darts at The Lakeside (venue for world championships) and in two disability world masters, so this was something to add to that,” he said.
England A and B both reached the semi-finals of the wheelchair pairs and the last four in the standing pairs.
Yorkshire’s Paul Gelder was also runner-up in the standing player singles.
Countries entered teams of four – two standing and two wheelchair players – who competed in the team event for the World Trophy while there were also separate singles and pairs competitions.
Phil, an ambassador for the British Disability Darts Association, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1999 and had his left leg amputated five years later.
However, that did not stop him from stepping up to the oche, either on crutches or in a wheelchair depending on his state of health.
Phil, whose nickname is ‘The Buzz’, has achieved considerable success in disability darts and is a previous twice runner-up in the world championships as well as excelling in other major tournaments.