On December 17, 2019, Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) witnessed a female beating a male player at a world darts championship for the first time. The PDC World Darts Championship finals are a marquee event on the organisation’s calendar. The PDC World Darts Championship tours across Great Britain and Europe, with venues in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and The Netherlands. The World Championship is the only dual-event on the organisation’s events calendar, with the tournament featuring two players representing their countries, and there are 32 nations taking part. World Matchplay is held annually at Blackpool, making The Winter Gardens the longest-running permanent venue in the PDC circuit.
Peter Wright and Michael Smith are preparing to meet each other in the PDC World Darts Championship Final. The World Darts Championship is being held at The PDC, with fans of the sport having an entire year of thrilling tournaments to look forward to. Despite missing out on a place in the Premier League playoffs, Smith won on the final night of the regular season at Newcastle and subsequently claimed victory for the first time in five years at the European Tour, lifting the trophy at the Dutch Darts Championship. The winner was the UK’s dart-loving Michael Smith, who defeated the Netherlands triple World Champion Michael van Gaalwen in the final 6-4.
Given that women had never had a lot of success at the men’s events, it is easy to think of these two wins, the first by a female in a men’s event, as creating quite the buzz around darts-loving Britain. Last autumn, Sherrock became the first woman to make a men’s tour final, defeating world No.5 Dmitry Van den Berg in the semifinals at the Nordiques Masters. Sherrock became a darts superstar virtually overnight in the 2020 World Cup, becoming the first woman to beat a man at Alexandra Palace, beating Ted Evetts before shocking eleventh-seeded Mensur Suljovic to advance to the third round. The woman has been awarded Queen of the Palace, named after the venue where the world darts championship is held, Alexander Palace in London, where she defeated Ted Evetts 3-2 in the opening round of play.
Sherrock was all over England’s headlines when she became the first woman to defeat a man in a darts world championship at the end of last year, breaking barriers in the game, which is generally considered to be a beers-fuelled, barroom contest, typically played by ill-fitted men. Easily recognisable by her now-trademark pink top, long, blond hair, and habit of drinking water between shots to manage her continuing kidney problems, Sherrock stands out in the world of darts. Last fall, Fallon Sherrock became the first woman to reach the finals at a men’s tour event, beating the fifth-ranked player in the world, Dimitri Van den Bergh, in the semifinals at the Nordiques Masters.
Last fall, Sherrock became the first girl to make the final of a men’s tour event after she beat the world’s fifth-ranked player, Dimitri Van den Bergh, in the semifinals of the Nordic Masters.
