Women will certainly be back at the World Championship and PDC will discuss more ladies darts, says chief exec
After two women competed at a PDC World Championship for the first time this year, ladies will certainly be back in the tournament next time round, says PDC chief executive Matthew Porter.
Lisa Ashton and Anastasia Dobromyslova competed in the first round at the Alexandra Palace of the 2019 PDC World Championship, although they lost to Jan Dekker and Ryan Joyce respectively.
Despite defeats, the ladies put in impressive enough performances and created sufficient interest for the PDC to want female players back for the 2020 World Championship.
When asked if women would be involved again next time, Matt Porter told Metro.co.uk: Yeah certainly. I thought Lisa and Anasatasia equipped themselves really well.
It was a credit to them that they managed to come through the qualifying tournament because there was a lot of interest and most of the top players played.
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They showed their class to come through and how well did Lisa do in that first set? (Ashton won the first set against Dekker 3-0, averaging 107).
Obviously theyd have liked to have won but certainly neither of them disgraced themselves.
Its early days, weve put two in. Is two going to become 20? No. But will two be looked at in the future? Yes. Well discuss with the right people and see what we do.
The PDC dont currently put on womens events, although ladies are free to compete on the Challenge and Development tours, and on the main Pro Tour if they earn a tour card.
However, Porter suggested that a move into regular womens tournaments could be something the PDC looks at in the future.
With ladies darts its not just about them coming on stage at Alexandra Palace once a year, said Porter. Its about what opportunities they have throughout the year.
They wont improve as players unless they have regular professional tournaments to play in and develop their skills, which is something they dont always have at the moment.
[The PDC getting involved in professional womens tournaments] is something wed certainly discuss. Theres a lot of factors to look at, not least the amount of time in the year.
You only have to look at our event calendar to see how packed it is. But we certainly wouldnt rule out getting more involved in ladies darts.
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