PDC Chairman Barry Hearn on what's next for women's darts: "It is very much on our mind"

PDC Chairman, Barry Hearn touched on the future of Grand Slam of Darts amateur qualifiers during a recent interview with The Darts Show Podcast but also on the women's game.

Hearn said that it is still at the forefront of their plans but potentially not until next year due to Covid-19 with 2021 seeing the iteration of the Women's Series which was highly successful.

"What we're doing with the ladies game, firstly, we're gender-neutral," Hearn said on The Darts Show podcast. "Lisa Ashton, it was a massive breakthrough for her to actually win a Tour Card. Hopefully that can inspire other women. There's things that we can do, and there's things that we have to rely on the women themselves to do."

"This is not an easy life, it's a competitive sport. We're not in this sport to create mediocrity, we're in it for excellence. So it does fall back on the ladies to be better and to improve.

"We will certainly give them opportunities with qualifiers for the World Championships. I think there will be some other involvement, probably not until 2022 bearing in mind Covid and all the other disruption we've had.

"But the women's game is very much on our mind, providing they are at a level which is entertaining and competitive.