Zuiderduin Masters

So my next BDO ranking event for Lakeside 2014 was the 3rd of the BDO majors called the Zuiderduin Masters. This is an event which see's six of the best lady players in the world in two groups of three players. In my group was Deta Hedman, Sharon Prins and myself. In the other group was Irina Armstrong, Lorraine Farlam and Aileen De Graff.

My forn coming into the tournament had been good and I had been practicing hard since the last tournament in Jersey. The weekend before this tournament I hit a 31.98 ave in county to give me the highest average in the country over that weekend.  http://www.bdodarts.com/biccmonthlyawards.aspx

I played well in my first group game beating Sharon 4-1in legs meaning that I needed to win my next game against Deta to get myself into the final. I was playing well and defeated Deta 4-1 in legs to then play Aileen De Graaf in the final who had won through from her group. I continued my good form in the final and ran out winner by 2 sets to 1 and taking the crown of Zuiderduin Masters champion. This meant i currently held 2 of the 3 BDO major titles in the year 2013. This was a great way to end the year and a real confidence boost for Lakeside in January. I hope that by winning this tittle I will be invited back next year to defend my title as this would mean a lot to be able to defend this title.

http://www.gr8ofdarts.co.uk/news-article.html?id=67

http://www.zuiderduinmasters.nl/pagina.asp?mn=1&pg=100000


Well its been an up and down year for me in terms of form in 2012. It started well with a Lakeside win and it finished well with a Zuiderduin Masters win. I am currently sat in 10th position in the World ranking heading into Lakeside, but it is only very early in the seasonand I will be hoping to improve on this position at Lakeside. http://www.bdodarts.com/tables.aspx?tid=8

I would like to thank my sponsor Unicorn for there continued support and assistance with helping me to change my darts this year in order to help me try and get better. They are always there and nothing is ever to much trouble for them.  http://www.unicorn-darts.com

I would also like to thank GR8 of darts for making me part of their team and also for making it possible with this website for my fans to be able to connect with me. http://www.gr8ofdarts.co.uk

And most importantly i would like to thank all my family, friends and fans for the continued support. I hope to start 2013 in the way in which I started 2012.

Anastasia. xx

Jersey Festival of darts.

After my return from a break to see family and friends in Russia and to celebrate my wins, It was back to business with the steel-tip and a trip to Jersey for their Festival of Darts.

This was a tournament that was very unique to the BDO ranking system as this offered two singles ranking events over the weekend. I attended the event with my Husband Tony Martin and a few of his friends as they came away for a break and to support me.

The event started off with the pairs event and I was for the first time partnering the Ladies World Ranked number one player Deta Hedman. To say we played well would be an understatement, We won the event without dropping a single leg along the way winning all games 3-0 in legs. This was a great start to the weekend and i was happy with the way I played.

The next tournament was the Jersey Open singles. I had a very tough draw first round when I was drawn out against Trina Gulliver. This was not one of my best performances and I lost 3-0 in legs. Trina played very well and deserved the victory and Trina made it to the final of this event where she lost out to the young talent of Fallon Sherrock who is one to watch for the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OneFDKVSus

The next singles tournament was the Jersey Classic singles. I made it to the last of this tournament and then played my pairs partner for the weekend Deta Hedman who was that little bit to strong for me and beat me 3-2 in legs. This game has been shown many times on dart forums, Facebook, Twitter etc due to the high standard of this game with myself and Deta showing what Ladies darts is all about. Deta made it to the final where she was beaten by Lisa Ashton. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB1Rzsz-Ldo

So after this tournament I had only gained a few more BDO ranking points going into the Zuiderduin Masters. I felt my practice was good but I was just not getting the results that I needed. So it was back to the practice board for me in preparation for county and my next BDO ranked event in December.

IDF WOrld Cup of Darts (Soft-Tip)

Not many people will be aware that I am also the current European Soft-tip darts champion which I won in Benidorm in May 2012  and have previously been the World Champion. This is a game I have had huge success at over the years and a game I enjoy playing all the time.

I was again selected by the Russian Darts Federation to represent my country at the IDF World Cup in Shanghai China which was shown on chinese TV station CCTV which was going to be attended by players from 24 countries including the much fancied teams of USA,Hong Kong and Canada.

We started the play with the Pro Singles event of which I played very well in and was fortunate enough to win the event beating Stacy Bromberg from the USA in the final. This meant that yet again I was the Ladies singles World Champion of soft tip. I was happy with this as this meant I was now the Steel-Tip  and Soft-Tip world champion again in the same year, This is something that has never been achieved by any other lady in the history of darts. http://www.edu-dart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/5.WORLD-CUP-SINGLES-PRO-WOMEN.pdf

The next day I then played in the Pro Cricket event. again I played very well and reached the final where I was once again up against Stacy Bromberg. On this instance Stacy got her revenge on me in the final beating me 3-2 in legs after I had missed darts to win 3-1. I was a little disappointed at loosing after having darts to win but becoming runner up to a lady that plays this game all the time I was happy with my results.  http://www.edu-dart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/9.World-Cup-Singles-Pro-Cricket-Women.pdf

In the team event, which is played in Round Robin groups, Team Russia were in the group of four team. These games were played after the singles events on both days till the semi-final stages. We were pretty much the surprise team in the last for with the three other teams of Hong Kong, USA and Canada making up the rest of the semi-final teams.Russia played well in the semi-final to beat Canada and played the team of Hong Kong in the final.I was playing well and won the final leg for Russia much to the surprise of many.  http://www.edu-dart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IDF-Darts-World-Cup-Teams-20123.pdf

This was a great tournament and one I will enjoy going back to next year to play in once again. I have put some links below of photos of the event and also some you tube clips that I managed to find.

http://www.edu-dart.com/2012/11/12/idf2012-fotos/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wNzhU16RPs&feature=player_detailpage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5sESM60TeQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6T0w-UoxSA

Start of the 2014 season. Winmau World Masters

Well after some much needed time off in September and a holiday I travelled to Las Vegas to play a soft tip tournament run by DARTSLIVE  http://www.darts-theworld.com/en/ which was an excellent tournament.

I decided to travel here in preparation for the soft-tip World Cup of darts of which I would be playing in for myself and team Russia.I have written a separate blog regarding this event.  http://www.idfdarts.org

So back to the steel tip. Well the start of 2014 season has really not started to plan. I attended the Winmau World Masters in Hull and I really struggled to hit my doubles in the event and lost out in the last 64 stage 4-2 in legs to Japanese player Kyio Shimizu who I gave chances to and took them well when presented with them. http://www.dartsforwindows.com/winmau/WinmauWorldMastersLadiesSingles11102012.pdf

I had been putting in a lot of practice with my new darts of which I had dropped form 22grams in weight to 20grams in weight as this is the required weight for soft-tip. I had practiced well and scored well but I could just not find that double at the end of the legs which I needed.I knew the change in the weight of the dart had not affected me that much and it was jsut one of those days where I missed my doubles.

I have never really played to my ability yet in the Winmau since winning the youth title. I have been runner up once just before I switched to the PDC. This is one title that is very hard to win and one that still I want to win.

EDO England Open

I attended the EDO England Classic in Selsey which was my last BDO ranking event for the rankings for Lakeside 2013. I was already sitting in 2nd place and wanted to guarantee my place as second seed for Lakeside.

I started the day well winning my first two games 3-0 but I knew mentally I was not playing to my full potential as I felt burnt out after a long season.

I did not play to the best of my ability in this tournament and ended up only reaching the last 32 where I was beaten by Jane Judges of Cambridgeshire.

I teamed up again with my regular pairs partner in Loraine Farlam and we had some real tough games during the day and we was very happy to get to the final where we played, C Bywaters and A Jones. we played well in the final and came away 3 nil winners.

This was the last BDO ranking event for Lakeside 2013 and I was very pleased to finish up as 2nd seed for the World Championships.

It had been a long hard season and was a very much pleasurable one being able to travel the circuit as World Champion.

I had managed to win a few singles and pairs titles during the season.

I also shortly after this tournament had finished received the news that I was invited to the Zuiderduin Masters in Egmond Aan Zee in December which is one of the three BDO major events.