| Irina Armstrong | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Nickname | Ice Baby |
| Born | 6 December 1970 Vologda, Russia |
| Home town | Gangelt Germany |
| Darts information | |
| Playing darts since | 2001 |
| Darts | 23g Unicorn |
| Laterality | Right |
| Walk-on music | "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon |
| Organisation (see split in darts) | |
| BDO | 2001 - |
| Current world ranking | 3 (BDO Women's), 1 (WDF Women's) |
| BDO majors - best performances | |
| World Ch'ship | Semi Final 2011 |
| World Masters | (Women's) Quarter-Finals 2008 |
| Other tournament wins | |
| Tournament | Years |
| Brabant Open Chris de Roo Starlight Open Belgium Open Roermond Open World Cup Ladies' Pairs Finland Open German Gold Cup Dortmumd Open Zercom Open Open Holland French Open Primus Masters Flanders Open England Open Czech Open |
2002 2004 2004, 2005 2006 2006 2007 (with Anastasia Dobromyslova) 2007 2008, 2009 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008, 2009 2009 2009 |
Irina Armstrong (born December 6, 1970 in Vologda) is a Russian darts player, nicknamed Ice Baby. She is currently one of the top ladies' dart players in the BDO circuit.
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Irina started out playing ten-pin bowling until she was pregnant and decided to pick up darts. From then, she has quickly risen to be one of the top lady players in the world. She picked up wins in the singles and pairs events in the Belgium Open and Finland Open, and followed it up with a win in the German Open pairs with Carina Ekberg of Sweden,.[1] Her greatest achievement to date came at the 2007 WDF World Cup in Rosmalen, Netherlands, where she won the Ladies' Pairs title with Anastasia Dobromyslova.
Her performances in 2008 included wins in the French Open, Dortmund Open, German Gold Cup, Open Holland, and the Primus Masters. She was also the runner-up of the England Open, Swiss Open, and the Danish Open, and moved to as high as 3rd in the world rankings.
Despite her successes during 2008, Irina was surprisingly overlooked for a place in the Zuiderduin Masters, a BDO major held in Holland. Having missed out initially on an automatic place for the tournament by just one place, an spot was made available after Anastasia was forced to withdraw from the competition after Dutch authorities prevented her from playing in the event because of her visa problems, but it was given to Lisa Ashton, who would go on to win the tournament. Still hoping for a wild card, this was then handed to German player Monique Lessmeister, who at the time was ranked 66 places below her in the world rankings.
Irina continued her good form into 2009 and secured qualification for the Lakeside World Championship by winning the England Open. She also made up for last year's disappointment by ensuring qualification for the Zuiderduin.
Irina is married to an Englishman named John Armstrong, with 2 children, son Christian and daughter Ksenia. She currently resides in Gangelt, Germany and previously lived in Holland. She is fluent in German and English. '