"Lex still amazes me every day" - 13-year-old Belgian wonderkid's mother sees bright future ahead of JDC World Championship finalist

Lex Paeshuyse will compete for the world title in the Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) on December 21st at the Alexandra Palace. The 13-year-old Belgian talent will take on Englishman Daniel Stephenson, three years his elder.

Paeshuyse managed to qualify for the final of this World Championship for players under 18 in Gibraltar. As mentioned, he now gets to take to the biggest stage in world darts at the iconic Ally Pally. "We actually haven't been able to sleep," mother Inez admits in conversation with Het Nieuwsblad. "There is suddenly so much coming at us again. It's a combination of everything: adrenaline, an avalanche of messages, another gala ball last night... And we had no electricity from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. So no TV, no wifi... Maybe just as well (laughs). We then set ourselves to answering messages this morning, because of course people deserve that."

"We are proud of him, but apparently so are other people," see continues warmly. "Everyone wants to see him play on the biggest stage. We shouldn't be silly about it either, this is fantastic!"

Paeshuyse often piles up the high averages, but in one of his first matches was stuck at an average of 52. "The start was rough," continued Inez. "It all didn't go the way he wanted. There were also not one but a couple of equipment changes and then you quickly start thinking 'oy'. After the pools we were still thinking, 'How are we going to catch him here?' And then right after that he runs into this Branley, who won the tournament from Luke Littler here on Tuesday. Then it was 'ow' again, and after that again because it was against someone they're making a documentary about. Because of that it was again all the cameras on him, and the match after that Littler himself was watching our Lex. It was always something!"

Next week, Paeshuyse will also be in action at the World Youth Championship in the WDF, so now he is also in the final at the JDC. "Lex still amazes me every day. We came here without expectations and then he performs this ... Unreal it is. It also goes so fast. Six months ago we started throwing JDC to see how it would go. And suddenly next month he is on the big stage in 'Ally Pally', as the first Belgian ever in the final of the JDC World Championship. It's crazy, but we keep both feet on the ground. We are Kempeners for something!"