A NEWPORT schoolgirl is set to be the next phenomenon in the world of darts.

She has only been playing darts for a year, and is barely tall enough to pull her darts out of double top, but 12-year-old Kimberley Lewis has already set a new record as the youngest player to represent a Welsh senior team.

Kimberley is so good at darts she has been picked for the Gwent County Ladies team, and has been selected to play for the Wales under-18 side in Holland this summer.

Hartridge pupil Kimberley, who lives in Somerton, regularly beats men more than twice her age in her local league and hits 180s for fun. Kimberley grew up with darts as her parents Shane and Sarah Lewis, both 35, both played for Gwent.

Shane said: "Last year Kimberley said she wanted a go and straight away we could see she was good. She's brilliant. She plays on a Tuesday night for my team in the Newport 301 League against men and has won three out of four games.

"I'm confident that, by the time she is 16, she will be a senior Welsh international."

Kimberley said: "I was watching everybody else play and I asked my dad if I could borrow his darts. I kept hitting 20s.

"Everybody said I was good so I wanted to play more often." In her first competitive tournament in Gloucester Kimberley reached the semi-finals. She said: "I want to be world champion and be the best in the world."

But Kimberley may have a rival for the title - her own younger brother. Nine-year-old Robert is also a talented darts player who is keen to beat his big sister.