Ashton speaks on becoming first female player to win PDC Tour Card at Q-School: "I don't want any special treatment"

Lisa Ashton claimed her Tour Card at PDC Q-School last month and has had a lot of publicity around her becoming the first woman to win through the gruelling event.

Ashton though doesn't want to be seen as that and wants to be seen as a darts player. As well as that gender shouldn't come into it at all.

Despite that though she did joke and say that it might help her win some games on the tour if the male players still have that mindset.

In terms of the ladies' game, 'The Lancashire Rose' believes that it is just the start and that she hopes that moments like this can prove pivotal in the game going forward.

"I don’t want any special treatment. I don’t want to be thought of as Lisa Ashton, the first woman to play on the men’s tour. No thank you," said the multiple World Champion to The Guardian.

“I want to be Lisa Ashton, the dart player. If someone beats me, fair enough. Whether I’m a man or a woman shouldn’t come into it.”

“There’s still a fair few male players who I think feel the pressure because they don’t want to lose to a woman – hopefully that helps me out this year,” she said.

“I missed out by a point at Q School last year but this time I came back with the serious intention of getting a card,” she says.

“I’ve seen the ladies game snowball in recent years and knew this was the next step, one of us getting a card. Fallon has made the headlines, and wasn’t she brilliant at Ally Pally? But below her, myself and Mikuru [Suzuki, the reigning women’s world champion], there’s so many names coming through. I think it’s just the start. Barry Hearn said if the women were good enough, they’d get opportunities. We’ve proven that can happen.”