Daniel Stephenson and Lex Paeshuyse will meet on the big stage at Alexandra Palace next month for the right to be crowned JDC’s world champion for 2024.
England’s Stephenson beat compatriot Drake Porter 5-2, while Belgium’s Paeshuyse beat Tergel Khurelkhuu of Mongolia 5-4 in an absolute thriller in the semi-finals in Gibraltar.
Stephenson, 16, and 13-year-old Paeshuyse will now compete in the final of the Holiday Inn Express Junior World Darts Finals during the PDC World Championship.
Both players played superbly to reach the showpiece final for the right to follow in the footsteps of Luke Littler, who won the world title in 2022 and 2023.
Paeshuyse’s route to Alexandra Palace was incredibly tough, beating this week’s two event champions Ryan Branley and Kendji Steinbach along the way, as well as seeing off Jack Nankervis, Jamie French and then Tergel as his average did not once drop below 80.
Stephenson reeled off an impressive set of wins, too, beating Benjamin Goddard, Bradley van der Velden, Kieran Thompson and Archie Self en route to his semi-final against Porter.
Paeshuyse versus Tergel will long be remembered by those who were fortunate enough to witness an enthralling semi-final on The Rock.
The Belgian raced into a 4-1 lead as the contest started in stunning fashion, Paeshuyse hitting six ton-plus scores in the opening two legs for legs of 14 and 11. Tergel held throw to make it 2-1, before Paeshuyse went 140-140-100 to leave tops for 3-1, then broke with a 100 checkout for a 4-1 lead.
At that point he was throwing for the match, but Tergel broke back, then held in 15 and broke again to force a deciding leg.
But if Paeshuyse sensed London and the big stage were slipping from his grasp, he did not show it, digging deep to break the Tergel throw when it mattered most and set up a clash with Stephenson in the final.
Stephenson showed plenty of character to reach the final, requiring a deciding leg against both Van der Velden and Self, while his semi-final was more straightforward than that. He breezed into a 3-0 lead against Porter, before closing out the match as the next four legs went with throw.
On an excellent day of darts, which saw 159 players competing, six different nations (England, Belgium, Mongolia, Poland, Ireland and Netherlands) were represented in the quarter-finals, with players from Scotland and Spain reaching the last 16.
There were excellent performances across the board, with yesterday’s Luke Littler Legacy Open champion Branley unfortunate to run into Paeshuyse and bow out in the last 64 despite averaging more than 87.
Last year’s semi-finalist Mason Teese was another first knockout round casualty as he came up against Steinbach, as the depth of talent in the JDC was underlined. Steinbach himself was beaten by Paeshuyse in the last eight despite averaging 88, and he can be proud of his performances so far this week after winning the Winmau Junior Open on Monday.
There was also an excellent run to the last 16 by JDC Girls Series champion Paige Pauling, who posted an average of 90.34 against Barry Watson in the last 32 before being beaten by Self.
RESULTS:
Semi-finals:
Daniel Stephenson (Eng) 5-2 Drake Porter (Eng)
Lex Paeshuyse (Bel) 5-4 Tergel Khurelkhuu (Mng)
Quarter-finals:
Daniel Stephenson (Eng) 4-3 Archie Self (Eng)
Drake Porter (Eng) 4-3 Piotr Chochol (Pol)
Tergel Khurelkhuu (Mng) 4-2 Luke Dooley (Ire)
Lex Paeshuyse (Bel) 4-2 Kendji Steinbach (Ned)
Add comment
Comments