Chloe O'Brien: From pink flamingo darts to the Women鈥檚 World Matchplay in five years
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Chloe O'Brien: 'It's a big deal' as Scot prepares for inaugural Women's World Matchplay
Chloe O'Brien would have told you "you're off your rocker" if you said five years ago she would be one of eight players competing at the inaugural PDC Women's World Matchplay.
She will be the only Scot in Sunday's quarter-finals at Blackpool's Winter Gardens eyeing a 拢10,000 first prize.
It is a long way from when she received her first darts on her 14th birthday.
"I got darts similar to what I am throwing now, but they were flamingo darts," she tells 大象传媒 Scotland.
"They were pink and round and I think they were 24 grams.
"My uncle got them for my birthday and he just said: 'Right, come down to the pub, have a throw - if you don't like it, you don't like it.' And I got into a darts team on a Monday night, I got into the Friday nights, I got into the youth tour and, ever since then, it's just been up and up and up."
O'Brien, the lowest ranked player to qualify, faces a tough task in her opening game, taking on English top seed and four-time British Darts Organisation women's world champion Lisa Ashton.
However, she is proud to be the youngest player in the field along with Irish seventh seed Katie Sheldon.
"For me, from the wee town Blairgowrie, and now in Scone, I wouldn't have thought someone like me would be in this position right now," she says. "I can't conceal my feelings about it, but it's a really big deal and I'm so happy it's me doing it."
Ahead of Sunday's finals, the PDC governing body has announced that the Women's Series will also expand to 24 events next year, with 拢145,000 in prize money to be on offered in total.
Second seed at this year's event will be Fallon Sherrock, who made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to win a match at PDC World Darts Championship after defeating then development tour winner Ted Evetts.
"That just proves that all women can do it if they put their heart to it," O'Brien suggests. "It is very inspirational how one woman can change the life of the whole darts community.
"Fallon's opened so many doors for us women to sneak through the cracks of the men's darts."
O'Brien thinks many men still think of darts as "our sport" but believes that top players like Scotland's Gary Anderson and Peter Wright are supportive - and that Sunday's inaugural event is "a good chance" for women players "to show the men we are equal in most of the senses".