A new era in darts has truly begun following the final night of action at the 2023 WDF World Darts Championship at Lakeside, as Beau Greaves retained her Women's World Championship title, and No.1 Andy Baetens broke new ground to become the first Men's World Champion from Belgium!
After a week of enthralling darting action, Sunday night gave us four different but engaging final matchups. The evening's opener saw 16-year-old Italian Aurora Fochesato become the 2023 WDF Girls World Champion, after a close 2-0 victory over young Hungarian Krisztina Turai. Promising Dutchman Bradley Van der Velden then whitewashed his opponent Adam Dee 3-0 to scoop the title of Boys World Champion.
Having not dropped a single set, and very few games en-route to the final, Beau Greaves entered Sunday's final against Aileen de Graaf as the overwhelming favourite to win back-to-back Women's World Championships. Racing into a 2-0 lead, de Graaf showed signs of a fightback as she pushed Greaves to the limit in the third set, before the 19-year-old kept her composure to see out a third set. De Graaf reeled off three consecutive legs to make it 3-1, before Greaves finally ended the tie to retain her World title, becoming just the sixth woman to do so.
Closing out the night was the men's final between no.1 seed Andy Baetens and the no.7 seed Chris Landman, who in the previous rounds had beaten the reigning champion Neil Duff and many people's pre-tournament favourite Jelle Klaasen to make the final for the first time. There was to be no fairytale ending for the Dutchman's tournament however, as 'The Beast from the East' swept aside his opponent in a ruthless 6-1 win which included a stunning 170 checkout along the way.
Congratulations once again to the 2023 CT1 WDF Lakeside World Champions!
— WDF Darts (@DartsWDF) December 10, 2023
Aurora Fochesato, Andy Baetens, Beau Greaves and Bradley van der Velden! pic.twitter.com/snhKABl6oc
Read More:5 Dark Horses For This Year's PDC World Championship
The WDF's controversial ruling earlier this year that players would have to choose between playing for the WDF or the PDC, and not eligible for both World Championships unlike previous years, did raise question marks about the logistics and quality of the tournament: with notable absentees including last year's finalist Thibault Tricole, Luke Litter and Hauhai Puha in just the men's bracket alone, the WDF has done an exceptional job on delivering high-quality and reminding PDC fans in particular that familiar faces like Dennis Nilsson and Leonard Gates thrive in environments like the WDF.
With many more eyes being drawn to the world of darts, including this year's hotly anticipated PDC World Championship at the Alexandra Palace, and to the World Seniors Tour as Phil Taylor looks to close out his historic career in style, here's hoping the WDF can capitalise on this terrific tournament and momentum to continue delivering heading into 2024 and beyond.
Image Credit: Flickr User John Jones
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
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