De Graaf confirms World Championship return as PDCNB season concludes

Jeffrey de Graaf confirmed his qualification for the 2023/24 PaddyPower World Darts Championship after winning his second Nordic & Baltic ProTour title of the year last weekend.

The final weekend of 2023 Nordic & Baltic ProTour action took place in the Latvian capital of Riga from July 14-16, and it was De Graaf who took centre stage to seal his Alexandra Palace return.

The Dutch-born Swede competed in the sport’s flagship event in 2017 and 2019, and he will make his third World Darts Championship appearance in December, after finishing the season second on the Nordic & Baltic ProTour Order of Merit.

Finland’s Marko Kantele sealed his qualification on home soil last month, and De Graaf arrived in Latvia with a slender €350 lead over his fellow countryman Daniel Larsson ahead of Events 9-10.

The pair locked horns in a crucial Event Nine semi-final on Friday, and it was De Graaf who prevailed in a last-leg thriller, defying a ton-plus average from Larsson to triumph from 4-2 down.

De Graaf then edged out his compatriot Dennis Nilsson in a dramatic Event Nine decider, firing in back-to-back 13-dart legs to follow last month’s Event Eight success with back-to-back titles.

This sealed the Swede’s place at Alexandra Palace, but it was Denmark’s Benjamin Reus who celebrated a landmark victory in Sunday’s Event Ten.

Reus underlined his credentials with an astonishing display at last month’s World Cup of Darts, posting an individual average of 114.7 to guide Denmark through to the last 16 in Frankfurt.

The 24-year-old, who has also featured on the World Series of Darts circuit, defeated Latvia’s Valters Melderis in Sunday’s showpiece to become the sixth different winner on the Nordic & Baltic ProTour in 2023.

Reus had dumped out Sweden’s World Cup quarter-finalist Oskar Lukasiak earlier in the event, before accounting for top seed Kantele in the semi-finals to reach his second final of the campaign.

Melderis, meanwhile, ended De Graaf’s bid for a third straight title in the last 16, before overcoming Johan Engstrom and Larsson to secure a place in his maiden final on the Nordic & Baltic circuit.

Last weekend’s action also saw two European Tour qualifiers take place, with Sweden’s Anton Östlund winning through the ET12 qualifier to confirm his spot at the Hungarian Darts Trophy.

Östlund defeated Larsson in an all-Swedish last 16 tie, before seeing off Engstrom, Jani Laurila and Paavo Myller to seal a place in his first European Tour event.

De Graaf then capped off a successful weekend by securing his qualification for October’s German Darts Championship, recovering from 5-2 down to deny Teemu Harju in the ET13 decider.