Jeffrey de Graaf won his second title on the 2023 Nordic & Baltic Tour last weekend. With this victory, he booked a ticket to return to the Alexandra Palace.
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Last weekend two tournaments as part of the Nordic & Baltic ProTour 2023 were played in the Lithuanian capital Riga. The top two players on the Nordic & Baltic Tour ProTour Order of Merit qualify for the Darts World Cup. The ninth and tenth tournaments on the Nordic & Baltic Tour calendar were the last opportunities for the Nordic and Baltic participants to secure their spots at the World Championship.
Finland's Marko Kantele was already sure of World Cup participation before this weekend, but De Graaf, who held the No. 2 spot, needed some more results to knock off his compatriot Daniel Larsson in the race to the World Championship.
The two Swedes met in the semifinals of the first tournament on Friday. De Graaf managed to win this match in a decisive last leg and then won in the final from Dennis Nilsson.
With this victory, the Dutch Swede managed to secure his spot at the World Cup. De Graaf, who also participated in the PDC World Championship in 2017 and 2019, will try to pick up his victory at the Alexandra Palace at the end of December.
The second tournament of the weekend was won by Benjamin Reus. The Dane impressed earlier this year, when he threw an individual average 114.7 at the World Cup of Darts, taking Denmark to the last 16 of the tournament.
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Last weekend two qualifying tournaments for the Euro Tour were also played in Riga. Anton Ostlund won the first qualifier (ET12) and qualified for the Hungarian Darts Open. Jeffrey de Graaf closed the weekend successfully by beating Teemu Harjy 6-5 in the final of the second qualifier (ET13). De Graaf qualified for the German Darts Championship, which will be played in October.
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of DartsNews.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy across professional darts coverage. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces, playing a central role in the development and daily operation of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has extensive experience in darts media and has been closely involved in coverage of the professional darts circuit for several years. Within the UK darts community, he is a recognised figure known for his consistent editorial output and ongoing reporting on major tournaments and developments across the PDC calendar.
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Jeffrey de Graaf confirmed his qualification for the 2023/24 PaddyPower World Darts Championship, as the 2023 Nordic & Baltic ProTour season concluded in Latvia over the weekend...
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