"Chuffed" Lisa Ashton ready to realise PDC World Championship dream

Lisa Ashton will be the first British woman in history to play in the PDC World Championship.

Only Gayl King and Anastasia Dobromyslova have previously played in the PDC's biggest event. Dobromyslova makes her World Championship return in December. And Ashton will join the Russian, on the opening night at the Alexandra Palace. The reigning four-time women's world champion has been expressed effusively how much she is looking forward to taking to the stage. "It's a dream come true, I'm over the moon," a delighted Ashton told "I’m so chuffed to get through, there were so many top ladies playing in the qualifier and the quality was excellent." The Lancashire Rose powered through the qualifier in Milton Keynes. Across seven games, Ashton dropped just five legs. She converted a 132 checkout to see off Maria O'Brien in the final. As a multiple major winner, and the holder of the record average in a televised women's match, Ashton is possibly the best-placed female player to take on the male-dominated field. "For me this is a massive win. It’s an amazing opportunity to play the men at Ally Pally," Ashton said. "It been such an amazing day. Everything has been brilliant and to come out on top at the end is everything I could have hoped for. "We’ll be flying the flag for ladies darts and hopefully we can do everyone proud."