Photo: PDC Nordic & Baltic/Mads Magnussen

Teemu Harju won the inaugural Nordic and Baltic Championship and was the first ever to lift the Jann Hoffman Trophy.

Teemu Harju will be the first ever player to have his name on the Jann Hoffmann Trophy, as he won the inaugural Nordic & Baltic Championship at Saturday.

The Finn was up against the Swede Edwin Torbjörnsson in the final, and even though the Swede had played some great darts throughout the day, Teemu Harju proved way to strong in the final and won the encounter by impressive 8-2.

With the title also follows €6.500 for Teemu Harju.

In the first quarter-final of the night we saw 1. seeded Andreas Harrysson going up against Daniel Larsson for a spot in the semi-finals. Andreas Harrysson came into the game with the highest average of the second round and started of with a high average against Daniel Larsson giving him a lead of 3-2, as Daniel Larsson also proved to having a serious go for the victory. Larsson then won three legs in a row, before Harrysson won yet another leg. Daniel Larsson then won his sixth leg, giving him the victory of the match with an impress average of 103.36.

In the second quarter-final, which was another all Swedish quarter-final, Edwin Torbjörnsson and Anton Östlund pressured each other into a 11th and deciding leg, despite Edwin Torbjörnsson being up 3-0 along the way. In the deciding leg Torbjörnsson checked out 20, when Anton Östlund had 12 left.

Afterwards the last Tour Card holder of the evening Cor Dekker went up against Teemu Harju on the stage. The Norwegian quickly got in front by 3-1, however Teemu Harju then managed to win four legs in a row, putting the Finn into a good position for the victory. Cor Dekker then won yet another leg, before Teemu Harju got the sixth leg, meaning he won the match by 6-4.

In the last quarter-final of the evening Johan Engström faced Mindaugas Barauskas for the last spot in the semi-finals. Not once managed the two players to break the throw of the other, which meant Johan Engström won the match by 6-5 in the end, as he started the match with the throw.

In the first semi-final, another all Swedish match, Edwin Torbjörnsson got off to a good start and got ahead by 2-0, before Daniel Larsson equalized the score. Torbjörnsson then got ahead once again, before Daniel Larsson won three legs in a row, getting the score to 5-3. But once again the table turned, as Edwin Torbjörnsson then won three legs in a row, before Larsson equalized for 6-6.

In the 13th and deciding leg Edwin Torbjörnsson got himself down to 132, at which he made the first bull, then went double 16, before trying for the last bull. The strategy did not work, and therefor Daniel Larsson got a try on 77. Larsson however did not managed to hit the deciding double, which gave Torbjörnsson the opportunity to checkout 25, which he did in three darts.

And if the evening had not been dramatic enough, the second semi-final also had to go all the way. Both players won their first two legs with the throw, making it 2-2. Teemu Harju then held his throw once more, before he made a break of throw against Johan Engström and got ahead by 4-2.

The Finn even managed to go up by 6-3, before Johan Engström suddenly clawed his way back into the match and equalized to 6-6, by checking out 128 and 121 along the way. In the 13th and deciding leg was down to a single double after three visits at the oche, however the Finn had to use 19 darts to win the match on double 8.

With the title for Teemu Harju and thereby the spot at the World Championship in Alexandra Palace in London, number three on the PDC Nordic & Baltic rankings, Oskar Lukasiak, will take over the second spot through the rankings alongside Andreas Harrysson.

4th October
Finals session
Results
Quarter-finals
Daniel Larsson 6-4 Andreas Harrysson
Edwin Torbjörnsson 6-5 Anton Östlund
Teemu Harju 6-4 Cor Dekker
Johan Engström 6-5 Mindaugas Barauskas

Semi-finals
Edwin Torbjörnsson 7-6 Daniel Larsson
Teemu Harju 7-6 Johan Engström

Finals
Teemu Harju 8-2 Edwin Torbjörnsson