Nebrida seals double in Kuala Lumpur during Asian Tour weekend; Hayashi impresses with an average above 120

Paolo Nebrida grabbed the spotlight on the PDC Asian Tour last weekend by taking two titles. The Filipino strengthened his position in the rankings and climbed to third place. At the same time, Yuta Hayashi delivered one of the most impressive displays in the tour’s history.

After earlier stops in Dubai and Japan, the circuit moved to Kuala Lumpur, where Events 9 through 12 were played at the Raintree Club. Saturday opened with a striking breakthrough: Aris Quijano was crowned winner of Event 9, becoming the first Filipino player to claim an Asian Tour title in 2026.

Quijano defeated Ryusei Azemoto 5-3 in the final and impressed with an average of over 94. On his way to the title, he took out Hayashi in a last-leg decider and also brushed aside the Malaysian duo of Duncan Vincent Devakaran and Eric Pedley. In the semi-finals, he was too strong for Ryuta Arihara with a 5-1 win.

Quijano, however, had little time to savor his success. In Event 10 he reached the final again, but this time Nebrida had the upper hand. The experienced Filipino, a four-time World Championship participant, showed his class with checkouts of 96 and 156 and a 12-darter to seal a 5-3 victory.

Nebrida enjoyed a dominant run to the decider. He barely dropped legs in his opening matches and eliminated, among others, Royden Lam, followed by convincing wins over Ganzorig Lkhagvasuren and Sho Okano. He then beat compatriots Eduardo Largo and Christian Perez before ending Quijano’s strong streak.

Nebrida continued to impress on Sunday as well. In Event 12 he secured his second title of the weekend with another 5-3 win, this time against Hayashi. That took his tally to eight Asian Tour titles.

Amid Nebrida’s success, there was room for other leading figures. Haruki Muramatsu won Event 11 by defeating Lihao Wen 5-1. The Japanese ace dominated the day and reached the quarter-finals without dropping a leg, including a match in which he averaged 100.2 against Norisyam Sebi.

Most of the attention, however, went to Hayashi. In his second-round match he produced an extraordinary level with a 120.24 average against Muhammad Syarifuddin Bin Hj Japarrudin. With legs of 13, 14, 11, and 12 darts, he showed he can do far more than just throw a tidy dart. Alexis Toylo and Quijano also fell, before he came up short against Nebrida in the final.

Later this month the Asian Tour heads to Mongolia, where the next four tournaments are scheduled in Ulaanbaatar. The top five players of the season will earn spots at the World Darts Championship in December.