Germany’s Paul Krohne was crowned WDF Bruges Open Champion last weekend after comprehensively dismantling Thomas Junghans 5–1 in the final.
With a surname that sounds suspiciously like a Scandinavian currency, Krohne was perhaps always destined to pocket a few bob – and after a successful jaunt across to Belgium, he left €1,600 richer from one of the WDF’s silver-ranked events.
The 24-year-old didn’t exactly endear himself to the home crowd early on, dispatching back-to-back Belgians Christophe Landas and Jeroen Caron before sending Corne Groeneveld packing 4–2. Then, for good measure, he whitewashed another Dutchman, Roemer Mooijman, in the semi-finals. The Swiss slinger Junghans should have proven a tough test in the showdown. He didn’t and the trophy went the way of Krohne. Ruthless efficiency – very German.
Over in the Ladies’ Open, the honours went to Priscilla Steenbergen, who earned €800 after edging compatriot Aileen de Graaf in a thrilling last-leg decider. Steenbergen began her run by knocking out England’s Rebecca Brouse, then went on a Dutch demolition spree, seeing off Aletta Wajer and Lerena Rietbergen before taking care of De Graaf in a match that could’ve gone either way.
It was an event largely dominated by the Netherlands – the orange wave in full force – though Paige Pauling (who else?) made sure there was some British resistance, reaching the semi-finals to interrupt the Dutch monopoly. Naturally, Pauling wasn’t done there. She stormed to victory in the Girls’ Youth event, because at this point, it’s newsworthy only when she doesn’t win something.
I expect that anytime Paige grabs her darts case and shouts, “I’m just nipping out Mum”, she invariably returns home with another shiny trophy. This time, it was Ruby Grey on the receiving end of a Pauling-style bagelling in the final.
The youth triumphs didn’t stop there. In a National Youth double, the equally impressive Kaya Basal got the job done in the Boys’ competition. The field was, unsurprisingly, heavily Belgian – sprinkled with a handful of Dutch youngsters and a couple of English hopefuls.
As fate would have it, those two English lads fought their way through to the final. Mason Teese – another one to keep an eye on – was beaten 4–1 by his mate in what was a high-quality, all-English encounter far from home. Well saying that, not as far as Korea.
All in all, Bruges delivered top-tier tungsten, rising stars, and yet another reminder that Europe’s darting scene is thriving beyond the bright lights of the PDC. And if you’ve never seen the film In Bruges – which, to clarify, is not a highlights reel of this weekend’s action – I can’t recommend it enough.
—–ENDS—–
Images: PDC Europe / Sascha Janne
