The eight-player tournament will be held in one afternoon session on July 24 at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool; there will be a £25,000 prize fund on offer, with the winner also qualifying for the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts
Thursday 3 February 2022 17:11, UK
The newly announced Betfred Women's World Matchplay in July will become the first Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) women's tournament to be fully televised, live on Sky Sports.
The eight-player tournament will be held in one afternoon session on July 24 at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, with a £25,000 prize fund on offer, along with one qualification spot for the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts.
The field will be comprised of the top eight players from the 2022 PDC Women's Series Order of Merit following the 12 events being staged in the first half of the year.
"We're delighted to be able to add the Betfred Women's World Matchplay to our calendar," PDC chief executive Matt Porter said.
"We have expanded our commitment to women's darts in recent years following the introduction of the PDC Women's Series, and we feel that the time is right to give these players a televised tournament.
"The Winter Gardens in Blackpool is an iconic venue which hosts top-class darts, and it's fitting that eight top women will now get to grace the stage in July to compete in the Betfred Women's World Matchplay, live on Sky Sports.
"This event will take our total prize fund for women's events to £125,000 this year as we continue to create opportunities at a professional level for players across our developmental tours."
The event will run concurrently with the men's World Matchplay, which will be concluded in the evening session following the women's tournament.
Qualification for the women's event will be based on prize money claimed across the year's opening 12 PDC Women's Series events, which are being staged across double-header weekends.
The first of those comes in Barnsley on the weekend of March 12-13, with two events held per day, before later meetings follow in Wigan and Barnsley.
The 2021 PDC Women's Series Order of Merit was won by Fallon Sherrock, who qualified alongside Lisa Ashton to compete in both the Grand Slam and World Darts Championship.
Sherrock produced a stunning run to reach the quarter-finals at last year's Grand Slam of Darts, eventually losing 16-13 to world champion Peter Wright in the last eight.
