EXCLUSIVE: Rising darts star Hospodarska still playing 'below capabilities'

How did you get into darts in the first place?

My mum has a pub and there was a soft darts tournament every Friday. I didn't really pay much attention to it at first, even though my whole family played too because my focus was more on softball as I enjoyed it and didn't really feel the need to change sports.

But then my sister won a trophy and I kind of wanted to do the same, so I started playing myself. It was definitely a long journey, where I was able to gain a lot of experience through the national team to get to where I am now.

What has been your biggest success so far?

It's probably the European Softdarts Championships, which I won with the Czech team. That was the point where I thought I should really aim for a professional career.

How did you get the nickname 'Barbora Economic'?

When I was at university, I had a famous influencer in my class who told me that if I wanted to be famous, I needed a good nickname. So we went to the school computer and typed my surname into Google Translate and it translated to 'economics', which is how 'Barbora Economic' came about.

And Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne as a warm-up song is simply from your playlist?

It's actually just one of my favourite songs from my childhood and then I thought it would be a good choice for my walk-on. (laughs)

Just like Stowe Buntz, you're with the Brian Herbert Management Group, how did that come about?

Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. And we were both guests at the PDC World Championship 2024 because I'm from Shot-Darts.

That's where we met and afterwards, I thought he might be the right person to take my career to the next level, so I got in touch with him and then everything went his way - and I'm really happy with that decision because it takes a lot of tedious work off my hands.

What are your next goals in your career?

I have the feeling that I'm still playing far below my capabilities. I just need to get more practice and play more tournaments on the WDF Tour and that's my goal for the next six to 12 months. After that, I can continue to see if I can really catch up to the top of the sport and play with the really big players.