Jeffrey de Graaf qualifies for World Darts Championship for second year in a row

Tuesday, 27 August 2024 at 06:00

Jeffrey de Graaf may make another appearance at the World Darts Championship in December. The Dutchman, who currently lives in Sweden and darts on behalf of that country, qualifies for the tournament in Alexandra Palace for the second consecutive year via the PDC Nordic & Baltic Tour.

The Nordic & Baltic Tour is open to players from the Nordic and Baltic countries. Last weekend the last two tournaments of the season were played. De Graaf was already in a seat for a World Cup spot prior to the tournament weekend. He only needed to reach a quarterfinal in the final two tournaments to ensure his participation in the World Darts Championship.

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That was the case at the first tournament after wins over Gisli Veltan (6-0) and Anton Östlund (6-0), after which De Graaf made it to the semifinals with a 6-4 win over Teemu Harju. He then lost 6-2 to Darius Labanauskas in the last four. The Lithuanian then went down 6-5 in the final against Andreas Harrysson.

Labanauskas then did win the final event of the PDCNB season. Thanks to victories over Bent Lambertsen (6-1), Niels Heinsoe (6-0), Andreas Harrysson (6-4), Cor Dekker (6-2) and Teemu Harju (6-4), 'Lucky D' followed De Graaf in qualifying for the PDC World Darts Championship.

For De Graaf, it will be the eighth time he has been allowed to participate in a world championship. Last year was the first time he managed to get past the first round. De Graaf even made it to the third round, where he lost 4-2 to Rob Cross. Labanauskas already has nine World Cup appearances to his name. In 2017, he was in the quarterfinals at Lakeside, and at the 2020 World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, the darter from Lithuania was again in the last eight.

Results PDCNB Tour 9

Quarterfinals

Jeffrey de Graaf (90.25) 6-4 (87.02) Teemu Harju

Darius Labanauskas (93.86) 6-5 (87.11) Marko Kantele

Andreas Harrysson (95.94) 6-0 (81.53) Johan Engstrom

Cor Dekker (78.45) 6-3 (72.74) Hallgrimur Egilsson

Semi-final

Darius Labanauskas (92.36) 6-2 (89.69) Jeffrey de Graaf

Andreas Harrysson (98.07) 6-1 (78.76) Cor Dekker

Finale

Andreas Harrysson (89.51) 6-5 (86.73) Darius Labanauskas

Results PDCNB Tour 10

Quarterfinals

Teemu Harju (87.68) 6-4 (79.23) Jonas Graversen

Marko Kantele (83.46) 6-5 (83.90) Oskar Lukasiak

Cor Dekker (83.40) 6-1 (68.61) Johan Engstrom

Darius Labanauskas (96.65) 6-4 (89.50) Andreas Harrysson

Semi-final

Teemu Harju (100.32) 6-4 (90.33) Marko Kantele

Darius Labanauskas (91.88) 6-2 (84.19) Cor Dekker

Finale

Darius Labanauskas (94.00) 6-4 (82.34) Teemu Harju

Final standings PDC Nordic & Baltic Order of Merit

1. Jeffrey de Graaf 5125

2. Darius Labanauskas 4450

3. Johan Engström 4000

4. Oskar Lukasiak 3425

5. Marko Kantele 2975

6. Andreas Harrysson 2850

7. Cor Dekker 2600

8. Teemu Harju 1825

PDC Nordic & Baltic

@PDCNordic

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A big congratulations to Jeffrey de Graaf and Darius Labanauskas, as they both managed to qualify for Ally Pally this year. What a season it has been! We sure can't wait until next season, but for now we look forward to December! 😍🎄