Oche skirt

This is Anastasia Dobromyslova, a Russian darts player and the reigning BDO ladies World Champion. And, you'd have to agree, quite a hottie.

For the uninitiated, there are two competing organisations in darts:

- the BDO is the "original", its World Championships are televised on the BBC and it governs darts down to the grassroots levels of pub and county games. Critics argue that its owners belong in the dark ages. To give you an idea, the Lakeside club where the World Champs take place is run by a bloke called Bob Potter, a name whose similarity to that of Brian Potter of Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights fame is entirely coincidental I'm sure. (Although you might want to check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Lard)

- the PDC is a breakaway organisation run by wideboy promoter par excellence Barry Hearn, which boasts the vast majority of the world's great players in its ranks and whose exposure and popularity on Sky and now ITV is greater than ever.

This week, on the eve of the PDC World Championship, Anastisia has "jumped" to the latter organisation. Many players have done the same over the last few years, lured by the promise of far greater prize money and the chance to compete against the very best. Barry Hearn did set up the Grand Slam of Darts tournament which started on ITV last year, supposedly to pit the best of both organisations against each other. Sadly only a handful of BDO stars have been invited, and even that seems to be just so that Hearn can attempt to sweet-talk them into making the jump.

Anyway, Anastasia now has a guaranteed spot in the qualifying round for the PDC World Champs at Alexandra Palace in a couple of weeks' time, a spot that was poised to go to the highest-ranked darter from India. Of course, India is a minor country in darting terms, and parachuting a sexy blonde lady into the draw has generated much publicity.

Is it fair for the sport as a whole? Doubtful. Is it actually fair on Anastasia in the long run? Arguably not. Although she is a world champion, the fact remains that (a) ladies' darts is a long way behind the men's game in terms of quality, and (b) there is no ladies' division in the PDC. This could work out for the best - playing with men all the time might be just what she needs to take her game to a level where she can properly compete. On the other hand - well, we only need to look at poor Michelle Wie to see just how badly it could go wrong.

The simple fact is that while the rest of us look at the above picture and see an attractive lady with the potential to become a very good darts player, Barry Hearn only sees giant £ signs. He no doubt regards this as a no-lose situation. Meanwhile I wish Anastasia all the best, and hope that if she does succeed it will be on her own merits and not through other, more engineered means.