Llew Bevan originally  hails from Maenclochog and can actually say that he found his sporting interest in the tiny North-County village, in the unlikely venue of ‘’The Globe’ public house, where he started out watching his father Gary play darts when he was about eight years, threw a few ‘arrows’ at home and watched his share of darts on TV – and by the time he was 15 played in the local Preseli Darts League as a member of the pub’s five-man team.
 
The format was fairly simple as each player competed in a singles match and then either in the doubles or trebles component which meant there were seven points to be won in every game that was played on dark winter’s evenings.
 
“We played our matches in villages like Crymych and Llanboidy and at first for me it was just a social event because I was also playing loose-head prop for a Crymych Youth team coached by great characters in Kevin Phillips and Tudor Harries – but then Covid came along and I had loads of time to practise at home  so my game really improved.
 

Beginning to do well – and pick up some cash prizes

 
“I started to enter darts competitions across the county and in Carmarthenshire on Saturdays, where it cost £5 to enter and there were first prizes to be won up to £250 or even more because sometimes there might only be 40 or so competitors but if it swelled to near 100 the prizes were obviously bigger.
 
“There were some very experienced players there but there always a ‘Best Youth Player’ award of around £50 and since there were relatively few darters in that category I began to do quite well in financial terms as my mother Sian used to taxi me there until I was old enough to drive myself. She has been a great supporter, as has my partner Hannah Davies, who is always there for me and makes sure I stay on top of my game and practise regularly– and we have recently bought a house in Ffostrasol.
 
“I began to win a few tournaments and joined the Development category of the game, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, which now is the top in the world, as Luke Humphreys and Luke Littler take the limelight in events like the Premier League and World Championships.
 
“Luke Humphreys, Dimitri Van Den Bergh and Callan Rydz were often at tournaments and I was once drawn against Josh Rock, now a top player from Northern Island, who is a regular on TV.
 
“I also reached the last 32 in the World Under 25 championships in Milton Keynes, where I played Josh and I actually led 5-4 but nerves got to me at the wrong time and I went down 6-5.
 

Playing for Pembrokeshire paid off

 
“Things had first started to really pick up when get picked for the Pembrokeshire Men’s team and we travel as far afield as Northumbria, Cumbria, The Wirral, Bedfordshire and Breconshire, which has also been joined by Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire as the other Welsh teams in out section so are regarded almost as our ‘local derbies’!
 
“It means an immense amount of travel for our two teams of 12 players, and we play our home games at Whitland Sports Club – and I have only lost two games in three seasons to show how much my darts has improved, and then I was selected to play for Wales in the British International Championships against England and Scotland, in Glenrothes, Scotland.
 
“It was a big step-up for me  but again I did well enough to find myself selected for the Welsh five-man team to compete in the Six Nations Championships against England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland and The Netherlands – and we reached the 2024 final, where we beat a very strong England team to take the silverware. “It was in this year that we were also interviewed on S4C by  Owain Tudur Jones and Mari Grug, which was a nice experience.”
 
“From there I was chosen for Wales again  in the European Champions, held in Slovakia and we reached the quarter-finals of the team event and I bowed out in the last 16 of the singles – but regarded it as part of my learning experience.”
 

A great start to 2025 . . .which got even better!

 
That certainly proved to be the case and brings us to 2025 because Llew started out in April at Skegness as Wales entered their 12-man team and  in June they did well in the Six Nations as they finished runners-up to England, with Llew reaching the singles final before losing to one of the talented Dutch players.
 
Then just a couple of weeks ago the four-man team of  David Davies (Clwyd),  Mark Challenger and Liam Meek (both Glamorgan), plus our Llew, made the massive trek to Seoul, in South Korea, for the World Championships, taking place over eight days.
“We won four of our five pool matches to earn a last-16 tussle with Northern Ireland, followed by a quarter-final challenge from Canada – and after we beat them, we also won against Sweden in the semi-finals to reach the final!
 
“Our opponents were Japan, who had a huge amount of vociferous support, and the day had plenty of razzmatazz - but we stuck to our game plan and were thrilled to come out as World Champions!
 
“It was a memorable moment to be announced as winners and then step up on the podium - and we all have our solid gold medals as mementoes of an amazing achievement!
 
 

Other interesting details about Llew’s darting career

 
So now it’s back to building his match stats and high reputation even further after he caught the eye on an individual basis when he found a place in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ in a ‘Round the Board Against the Clock’ challenge to see who could hit the numbers 1 to 20 and then the outer ring and bull’s eye against the stop watch and his amazing time of 1 minute 19.78 seconds is still the record.
 
He has also won two WDO Welsh events, appearing on a television broadcast as a result, and signed a two-year contract with darts company ‘Mission’, who produce his own darts which are available to buy, plus other lots of support for a group in which he joins the likes of Mike De Decker, Ryan Joyce, Madders Razma, Alan Soutar and Martin Lukeman, all of whom have appeared in this year’s world televised events.
 
He was approached by Darryl Fitton, who is ‘Mission’s’ Player Development Manager, who said of him,
“Llew is a player we have been watching for some time now and he keeps on improving year on year. He performed well at ‘Q School’ recently, beating some top players, and was close to gaining a PDC Tour Card. I am excited with him and help him continue his progress in the game.”
 
That is high praise indeed and PembrokeshireSport.co.uk is delighted to feature Llew Bevan’s achieves so far on our site – and we wish him every success in the future as reward for all his high skill levels, commitment and willingness to keep working hard at his game.