BDO lifts most restrictions on youth players entering senior events

All youth players will get the opportunity unless otherwise stated by the organiser of the event; such as in the case of the World Masters to play in the senior event.
This will mean especially for Beau Greaves, if she qualifies she will be given the opportunity to play in the ladies events such as the World Championship and World Trophy like she would usually on tour.
The other events which fall under the banner of being disallowed are the Finder Darts Masters as like the World Masters it has a youth event.
New rules are set out below and come into force on the 1st October so won’t be the case until the 2020 World Championships.
1.02 Age Criteria
a. In pursuance of the Objectives laid down in Section 1.01 of this document the BDO shall at all times act in the best interests of all participating players in the fulfilment of their ambitions within the Sport of Darts regardless of creed or gender and neither does it seek to discriminate against any player on the basis of age and therefore it does not seek to enforce any lower age limit on entering a BDO ranked tournament other than to recognise any restriction imposed for whatever reasons by the BDO or WDF recognised darts body under whose jurisdiction the tournament is being staged.
b. It therefore follows that all players regardless of age that have participated in a ranked tournament in compliance with the terms of entry shall be fully entitled to receive any points as won and that those points shall be placed in the respective BDO ranking table and accumulated as per procedure
c. Similarly should any such player qualify for any award or direct invitation into a special event by virtue of his/her BDO Ranking points accrual then the BDO are committed to honour such qualification or invitation unless so directed otherwise by any BDO recognised authority or under any terms of sponsorship contract appertaining to the Event in question [i.e. sponsorship of a product that is only accessible to persons over a certain age and the sponsor requires shirt advertising to be worn by all players whilst on stage or when visually promoting the event]
d. Special Events to which the foregoing shall apply being
• Men’s World Professional Darts Championships
• Women’s World Professional Darts Championships
• Men’s World Darts Trophy
• Women’s World Darts Trophy
The only exceptions would be as follows:
• Men’s and Women’s World Masters Championships which have their own Youth Sections and as such there is a natural progression from Youth to Adult
• Finder Masters which is not a BDO Event
e. The BDO Invitational Rankings System provides a means whereby all players can showcase ability, pursue ambitions and realise aspirations and those opportunities should be available to anyone regardless of age
Under 18’s will not be eligible to enter the qualifying events for either the World Professional or the BDO World Darts Trophy.
This clarification is notwithstanding any controls emerging from future sponsorship contracts.
Additionally, the playoffs for the Youth World Championships will be played as usual at the World Masters and World Professional playoffs, and is scheduled for Wednesday 3rd October 2018 at The Spa, Bridlington.