Just a few hours before he claimed the 2024 WDF Boys World Masters trophy, Belgium's Lex Paeshuyse was one of four players to come through the Boys Lakeside Qualifier in Budapest.
The WDF Boys World Championship field has been expanded to eight players for 2024, with half coming from the ranking table and half from the qualifier in the Hungarian capital. Alongside Paeshuyse, Florian Preis, Archie Self and Kendji Steinbach all booked Lakeside debuts.
Paeshuyse proves his promise
13-year-old sensation Paeshuyse had already shown his class in posting multiple 90-plus averages on route to the Boys World Open final and latter stages of the Boys World Masters, and he continued in the same vain in the Boys Lakeside Qualifier.
After opening his day with victories over German duo Leopold Averbeck and Noah Hanfland, Paeshuyse pipped Ireland's Aidan O'Hara 4-3 to advance to the Last 32. There, he beat Jan Ligus 4-2 before subsequently breezing past Latvia's Markuss Jansons.
That setup a quarter-final play-off with another German, Louis Merkle. Paeshuyse raced into a 4-2 lead, only to be pegged back to a deciding leg. There, the young Belgian showed his class by taking out 84 to win 5-4 and book his place in the WDF Boys World Championship.
Consistency is order of the day for Preis
Florian Preis had the most consistent string of performances in the qualifier and that served the 17-year-old well as he secured a maiden appearance at Lakeside.
Preis, who has one WDF Youth title to his credit, averaged between 77 and 80 in all six of his matches. His run through the tournament began with victory over Sem Schilder, with subsequent victories coming against Ruben Baalmans, Gabriele di Giusto, World Open champion Mason Teese, Jake Jesurun and Matthis Verschaeve in the final round.
Steinbach secures his spot
Kendji Steinbach was already well-placed in the WDF Boys rankings coming into the World Masters weekend but the 15-year-old made sure of his Lakeside debut by coming through the Budapest qualifier.
Steinbach, nicknamed 'The Scorpion', enjoyed serene progress through the tournament, posting a 100.2 average in one match and dropping just four legs in five matches prior to the final round.
There, he took on compatriot Shane de Jong. De Jong made the stronger start and was within a leg of victory when he moved 4-2 in front, but from there Steinbach showed his class. The winner of four WDF Youth ranking events took out finishes of 116 and 96 to level the scores before producing a 17-darter in the deciding leg.
Self completes the lineup
14-year-old English talent Archie Self is one of the most promising players on the Boys circuit and he delivered on that potential by claiming the final place available in Budapest.
Self's day began with a 91.09 average against Timo Willaert and from there he recorded a series of impressive wins against Lenny Schlueter and WDF event winners Peyton Hammond and Yorick Hofkens.
In the final round of the qualifier, Self faced Ireland's 13-year-old Jack Porter. Porter had eliminated 2023 WDF Boys World Champion Bradley van der Velden in the final round but was unable to repeat the trick against Self, losing 5-3.
