ROWBY-JOHN RODRIGUEZ is looking to bowl over his rivals at the William Hill World Darts Championship - after revealing his talent as a junior tenpin bowling star!
The 21-year-old from Vienna has made his breakthrough in the past two years and is competing at the William Hill World Championship for a second time in this event.
One of four darts-playing brothers - elder sibling Roxy-James also competes on the PDC circuit and younger duo Rusty-Jake and Ridji-Jorg compete in junior events - Rowby-John was the 2014 World Youth Championship finalist and has already represented Austria in two PDC World Cups.
However, the future could have been different had he opted to continue playing another sport he excelled in, tenpin bowling.
"I played bowling for four or five years, and to be honest I was good," he says, modestly. "In 2009 I had to decide which sport to take up because I played both bowling and darts for a year and it was a bit difficult.
"I chose darts and here I am now!
"I started playing darts again because of my dad. He had played darts when we were kids and he stopped so that he could care for us at night, and I wanted to give him something back.
"Now, my brothers play darts too and when I'm not away playing we try to practice together. Maybe, hopefully, we will all play in the World Championship one day!"
The youngster has been one of the major beneficiaries of the expansion of the PDC's European Tour in recent years, giving him stage experience away from the major championships.
He played in eight of the nine European Tour events during 2015, reaching the quarter-finals in front of the Austrian crowd in Innsbruck in September.
"I'm still young and on a learning process, so it's really good," he admits. "I've qualified for nearly every tournament and it was good experience again on the stage and in front of the crowds.
"In Austria it was phenomenal because my parents were watching me for the first time, my little brothers were there and my girlfriend. The crowd was on my side and it was really nice.
"I want to do this as my work now and I'm getting used to it, and feeling at home on stage.
"I've got a lot more experience this year and I'm not nervous any more on the big stage, I just play my own game and we'll see what the results are."
Rodriguez has also been inspired by the success of his World Cup team-mate Mensur Suljovic, who has reached major semi-finals at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals and moved up to 21st in the world rankings.
"At the beginning of the year I told Mensur that I wanted to catch him in the rankings, and since then he's going really well!" smiles Rodriguez. "He's now a really top player, he's practising a lot and it's paid off.
"I think it's also good for him that somebody can travel with him. We're friends now and we do the tour together, and he feels comfortable."