THIS year’s World Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace has been the most enjoyable and compelling yet.

From opening round shocks through to a classic finale, it showed why the event has really carved itself a place on the sporting calendar.

And for St Helens, having three elite players up there with the best in the world helps fuel that interest in a town that loves the sport.

All three of those – Michael Smith, Dave Chisnall and Stephen Bunting – were an absolute credit to our town at Ally Pally and all left with their heads held high.

In all three cases, their defeats were close-run things and hinged on the odd miss or the occasional loose dart.

It is not a co-incidence that St Helens gives Stoke a run for its money when it comes to the country’s darts capital.

Darts has been the staple diet of sport in pubs and clubs over the decades, but thanks to the work of the St Helens Darts Academy based at Our Lady’s the future looks bright away from that front.

Youngsters aged 6-18 meet every Monday at the club to practise their art – and Michael Smith, despite rise in the game, still attends to help out. Who knows – there could be a future world champion among them.

Some people can be quite sniffy about darts and that tends to get the sarcastic‘Is it really a sport?’ far more than say snooker, shooting or dressage.

Much of that is pure snobbery.

But just watching some of those games at Ally Pally the first thing you have to ask yourself is how the players could hold their nerve and take out such ludicrously high check-outs when most of us watching could barely hold our phones.

The tension was enormous. I am sure most of the transfixed television viewers thought the same, even if a good chunk of the crowd at Ally Pally seemed more intent on singing daft songs at each other with their backs to the action.

Not many people watching on television were turning their backs, though.

Looking at last year’s World Series – which saw Windle-based thrower Stephen Bunting competing with the sport’s finest in events in Australia, New Zealand, Dubai and Japan – the darts is expanding its appeal.

You do have to ask yourself how long it will be before darts joins other target sports like archery and shooting in the Olympics.

There is certainly a strong case for it – and not simply because it is an entertaining, exciting and skilful sport.

It is one that is genuinely open to everyone.

There can’t be anyone out there that does not know how good or bad they are at chucking arrows – while most of us have never got near to trying a range of other wild and wonderful Olympic sports.

So I reckon darts should join karate and squash in lobbying for an Olympics inclusion one day.