Two finals for Irina at this years Centre Parc Masters made for a successful weekend for Irina.

On Friday, partnering Alan Norris, they reached the final of the mixed pairs, losing out in the deciding leg to Jamie Lewis and Julie Gore. But with nearly 200 entries it was a fine achievement indeed.

Irina returned on the Sunday for the ladies singles, an event where she reached the semi finals in 2010. Having not been troubled throughout her group she had a close fought match with the winner of the adjacent board coming through in the last leg against Kristin Bomander from Sweden. A fairly comfortable win in the last 8 brought her against Lorraine Farhlam in the semi finals.

Irina started very eratic and Lorraine was scoring very well. At 3 - 1 down Irina settled and pulled it back to 3 - 3 before falling behind again 4 - 3 in the best of 9 match. A superb outshot of 152 took it to a last leg. With both ladies missing a chance to win it was Irina who held her nerve and took out 24 with the last dart in her hand. A great game to watch.

The final was against Deta Hedman who had won through against Anastasia Dobromyslova in her semi, also by 5 - 4. The final was interesting to say the least. Deta started well and Irina could not find a treble, Deta won the first set 3 - 0 against the darts and was 1 - 0 in the second set with Irina nowhere in sight. Most of the packed audience must have thought it was going to be an easy win for Deta, but Irina had other ideas. She suddenly found her form and the treble hitting a 180, 140, 139 and a two dart 52 to post an 11 dart leg, followed that with 2 more good legs and at 1 set each was back in the match. She then went on to lead the final set 2 - 0, but Deta dug deep and when Irina missed 2 match darts Deta went on to win 3 - 2. A very good and entertaining match by both players. Well done to Deta.

Irina has now been at the Czech Open for the last 4 years and it has generally been a good event for her. This year was no different. The last 3 years have produced a 1st place, a 2nd place and a 3rd place. Last weekend Irina made another second place as she was beaten by Deta Hedman in the final.

The semi finalists were the same four ladies as last year, Irina, Deta, Karin Krappen and Lorraine Farlham. Last year it was Karin and Lorraine that made the final, this year it was Irina and Deta. Deta beat Karin in one semifinal and Irina beat Lorraine in the other.

Irina`s recent improvement in form continued on Saturday in the Top of Ghent ranked event in Belgium making the final but losing out 2 sets to 1 from Anastasia. In the semi final Irina beat Carla molema 5 - 2 and Anastasia beat Deta Hedman by the same score.

Behind as usual.... so here is an overview of the last few weeks:

WDF/BDO

A disappointing run in the British Classic, Belgium Open, saw no real gain on points for Lakeside but a win over Deta Hedman in the singles final in Sweden put Irina back on course for an outside chance for qualification.

Needing to do well in the British Open Irina started the day well but too many missed darts at doubles cost her dearly and failed by one win to pick up any extra points.

Moving on to the French Open Irina retained her singles title with a 4 - 2 win over Anita Tobias of Luxembourg. Irina has now played 3 times in the French Open in the last 4 years and has yet to be beaten. Alan Norris retained his singles title in the mens event.

Last weekend was the Luxembourg Open where a very late final left Irina very tired and she threw her worse game of the day and lost to Dutch girl Aileen de Graaf.

DDV ranking:

Irina played in Berlin in the German ranked events winning both the Saturday singles and the Sunday singles, she also won the ladies pairs together with Heike Jenkins. The wins in the singles moved her into a comfortable first place in the rankings.

Following Berlin was Hamburg. She finally lost a singles match in the Saturday singles in her last 8 match but made up for it by winning the Sunday singles and also the ladies doubles.

Rankings:

Irina missed out by just 3 points in an automatic place for Lakeside 2012, but after her win in France and runner up in Luxembourg she will move into second spot in the WDF rankings.

In the German rankings she is a massive 750 points ahead of second placed Heike Jenkins and should be selected to represent Germany in the forthcoming Lorna Croft Friendship Cup against the Netherlands ladies in December.

Zuiderduin Masters rankings 2012

Having qualified for Zuiderduin Masters this year Irina has had a good start by her win and second place in Luxembourg for the 2012 event and is currently in first place, but with only 2 events gone there is still a long way to go.