For the limited number of automatic qualifiers for Lakeside for the ladies, the year is entering a very crucial stage. With Open Wales, Swiss Open, BDO international Open, Welsh Classic, British Classic, Belgium Open, and the Europe Cup all offering very good ranking points to be won.
The automatic invitations extend to this years finalists and the three top ranked ladies from the invitation table making it very difficult for all the ladies to achieve.
Currently Irina is 6th in the table, and removing this years finalists she is in a very strong 4th position only 3 points behind that magical 3rd spot, and only 12 points behind the second spot.
But the pressure is now on financially. Having been self supporting all year, using her winnings to get to her next tournament Irina now faces 7 very important tournaments with 6 of them being both overseas and expensive.
For her closest rivals, Karen Lawman of England and Julie Gore of Wales, it`s not such a great problem with the 4 biggest competitons comparitively on their doorstep.
It would be a travesty should a few hundred euros stop her achieving Lakeside and also a place in the new televised ladies tournament at Zuiderdoun, but this is the problem that the ladies outside of the UK face in order to break into the very top of their chosen sport.
The costs for Irina to travel to the ranking tournaments is no less than for the men but the rewards are, and it`s hard enough for a man to get financial sponsorship let alone a woman.
This weekend sees the first of the above with Irina travelling to the Open Welsh knowing that not only does she need to do well for the points but also needs to earn money to get to the next one. A pressure that none of her main rivals have to the same extent and one I really hope for her she can handle.