Van der Voort doesn't understand why ladies had their own qualifier for World Championship: 'It's all about publicity'

Two female players joined the list of international qualifiers, as the PDC organised two ladies qualifiers for the World Championship. Van der Voort would have preferred to see women qualify through a regular qualification tournament with male and female players, he told Dartsnews.com.
''Ashton and Dobromyslova play two World Championships (PDC and Lakeside) now and that's not fair of course. Probably it's all about publicity. I have no problems with female players at the World Championship, but they should have qualified through a normal qualification event and not through a ladies qualifier.''
When the BDO confirmed their players for the Grand Slam of Darts there was alot of discussions on social media. People were outraged because Ashton didn't receive an invitation. Van der Voort disagrees with that. The Dutchman says that Ashton should play the men's circuit in the BDO to be eligable for the Grand Slam of Darts.
''Everyone would have liked to see Lisa Ashton in the Grand Slam of Darts. But in that case, she should have played the men's tournaments. The top eight on the BDO ranking is allowed to play at the Grand Slam and that's how you have to earn the invite.

Ashton faces Jan Dekker in the first round of the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship. Van der Voort understands the difficult position his Dutch compatriot is in as 'Fast Vinnie' played Dobromyslova before on television. They met at the Grand Slam of Darts in 2009 and 'From Russia with Love' surprisingly won this match. ''It is just very difficult. Even when Dekker wins 3-2, then he has actually lost that game. If he wins 3-0, everyone will say that's normal. Most of the people in the crowd not know Ashton and won't know how good she is. But she is good enough to throw a ninety average.'' ''Lisa is a good player and she could do very well if she would play with the men's on the BDO circuit. However I don't think a female player could make the top 32 on the PDC Order of Merit. But that does not mean they can't win matches in the PDC, I have experienced that myself.''