Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Column CM150
World Championships – Part 1
This year again, the WDF World Championships and the PDC World Championship are close to each on the calendar – the WDF World Championships ended on December 7th and the PDC World Championship will begin on December 11th. That leaves just three days to recover in between.
As is usually the case, the WDF World Championships are (and were) far less spectacular than the PDC World Championship (surely will be).
This year, the first few days of the WDF World Championships were only streamed. The stream wasn’t exactly brilliant, but television broadcasts are expensive, and the WDF is an amateur organization with limited funds compared to the professional PDC, which can present tournaments much more brilliantly. What I actually preferred about the WDF World Championships were the significantly shorter breaks during and between matches, resulting in a much tighter schedule.
Everything has already been said and written about the quality and averages at the WDF tournaments, but the WDF World Championships are still rich in variety and quite thrilling. Initially, the women’s and men’s matches alternated, and later in the tournament, the boys and then the girls entered the competition. The young players certainly showed some talent.
Overall, this year’s women’s tournament wasn’t as high-class as in previous years – the best women, including Beau Greaves, are all competing in the PDC World Championship this year and neither Mikuru Suzuki nor Aileen de Graaf were at their best. However, the Welsh players (Rhian O’Sullivan and Eve Watson – who also have experience in the Women’s Series) showed strong performances.
The women’s field was very evenly matched overall – no single player truly dominated, and the only player to achieve an average of over 80 was Deta Hedman, the oldest of the players, who reached the semifinals.
This confirmed, yet again, how strong a player Hedman is – a fact often covered by her nervousness on stage. This year, however, she was very relaxed and remained so for most of the final which ultimately presented her with a long-deserved world championship title (long-deserved because there is probably no other player who has won more titles on the BDO/WDF circuit than Hedman). I can hardly imagine anyone didn’t feel happy for her to finally claim this title as well.
In the girls’ competition, defending champion Paige Pauling naturally expected to win and probably hoped to make a good impression in the women’s event as well, but it wasn’t Paige Pauling’s tournament. Perhaps the pressure was too much for her – in any case, she didn’t reach her usual level of play and was eliminated rather unceremoniously from both the women’s and girls’ events.
Instead of Pauling, the relatively unknown Turkish player Zehra Gemi came to the fore delivering two strong performances and securing the title – with a higher average than Deta Hedman in the women’s final. At the World Masters, the young Turkish players impressed with their excellent throwing style and strong performances – the Turkish federation is clearly doing a good job.
Also, at this year’s WDF World Championships, a very young player was in the spotlight, one who was actually a few months younger than Luke Littler when he made his debut – the young Scotsman Mitchell Lawrie. Unlike Littler however, Lawrie participated in both the Boy’s and Men’s World Championships and was certainly the favorite for the Boy’s title, for which he had to fight hard against the German Florian Preis.
In the Men’s World Championship, it was quite difficult to pick a favorite, but Jimmy van Schie and defending champion Shane McGuirk were certainly among the top contenders. At least some German fans had also hoped for Paul Krohne or even Liam Maendl-Lawrance, but both didn’t play a particularly good tournament and were eliminated early.
In fact, apart from Mitchell Lawrie and Shane McGuirk and – from his second match onwards – Jimmy van Schie, none of the men showed consistently good performances with averages above 90. It was bad luck for the defending champion that he had to face Jimmy van Schie in the third round (who played his strongest match there).
After that, it was pretty clear that van Schie and Lawrie would meet in the final. van Schie certainly had the advantage, as Lawrie was doubly strained with the boy’s and the men’s tournament – he was bound to tire at some point, especially as both finals were played on the same day within a few hours of each other. He managed to win three legs early in the final, but then his performance weakened, and van Schie, who undoubtedly paced himself better thanks to his experience, was unstoppable for Lawrie.
The fact that the 15-year-old Scot even reached the final was a tremendous achievement, especially considering his relatively short playing career. Naturally, he was still disappointed. It will take some time for him to fully grasp what he accomplished. Jimmy van Schie was a deserved winner. However, it’s likely he will not stay with the WDF but will instead try his luck again in the PDC Qualifying School, perhaps with more success on his third attempt.
This year’s WDF World Championships were interesting tournaments, and they deserved a larger audience. Darts without party can certainly be entertaining – even when the sport is presented in such a straightforward manner as at the WDF World Championships. The fact that the titles ultimately went to a Turkish woman, an Englishwoman born in Jamaica, a Dutchman and a Scotsman undoubtedly justifies the name World Championships.
