Exclusive
Darts1 Interview
with Irina Armstrong

Do you travel around a lot as there are BDO/WDF tournaments all over the world or do you because of the children at the moment only play tournaments not too far from home?

I have travelled more this year than ever before but never outside of Europe. Maybe in the future I will be able to go further afield. The children of course play an important part because of their schooling and of course the additional costs if they travel too.

What were you biggest achievements thus far?

I have several to choose from, possibly the biggest was winning the WDF World Cup Ladies Pairs title, after all it is a world title. As far as singles go it`s not always the title that please me but on how I played to win it, so I would have to include the German Gold Cup, Open Holland, and more recently the Primus Masters because in all those I not only played great in the final but during the tournaments as a whole.

And what is realistically your goal in the long run?

Realistically I can become number 1 in the world rankings and win Lakeside, but the long term goal would be to keep doing it.

Do you think you still didn't reach your peak?

Every year, so far, I have been getting better and better, so I think I have still someway to go before I reach a peak, and I will certainly be trying to keep the improvement going.

Have you still got a chance to qualify for Lakeside this year?

This year I have two chances left open to me, the playoffs and the Winmau Masters.

Your husband is very much involved with the LDA but it looks there is nothing going on recently. What are the biggest problems you've to fight?

He knows more about this than I do, but he would probably say the single biggest problem is actually getting us ladies to support it.

Why was the idea behind to founding an own LDA? Are the females players badly represented in the other organisations?

In recent years the ladies have had several TV opportunities taken away from us, with that also goes the chance to find more sponsors. The LDA was formed to try to address that situation. To start taking ladies darts forwards again.

Why is it, do you think, that it is so difficult for female darts to be acknowledged in public?

A lot is because we don`t get given the same chances as the men in most tournaments. Lakeside for instance, 8 women, some making their TV debuts so full of nerves and the matches are so short the game has gone before nerves have been overcome. The match is over before they have had a chance to show the public just how good they are.

>> Dutch dart scene and the future