The 2024 PDC Asian Tour season comes to a close this weekend with the third edition of the PDC Asian Championship. At this tournament, Asian players can earn a starting spot for the Grand Slam of Darts, as well as two tickets to the PDC World Darts Championship.
The PDC Asian Championship was held for the first time in 2022. Christian Perez crowned himself the winner then. The Filipino is currently the only Asian player with a PDC Tour Card and is now once again among the participants. So is Haruki Muramatsu, the defending champion at this event.
The field of participants consists of a total of 48 players, including the 16 highest-ranked players on the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit. They have all acquired protected status and will still be separated in the draw for the group stage - which consists of 16 groups of three players.
A number of familiar names are still competing. The best known, of course, is darts icon Paul Lim, who recently secured entry to the WDF World Championship and may yet try to secure a spot for the World Championship at Alexandra Palace. Alexis Toylo, Lourence Ilagan, Paolo Nebrida, Reynaldo Rivera, Nitin Kumar and Royden Lam are other names we've seen regularly on the Asian Tour.
A prize pot of $100,000 has been made available for this event. Of this, $15,000 will go to the winner of the PDC Asian Championship 2024. Moreover, this winner will also get to compete in the Grand Slam of Darts, while the two finalists will be invited to the World Darts Championship. Toylo, Ilagan, Nebrida and Japanese Ryusei Azemoto have already qualified for the World Darts Championship via the Asian Tour. Azemoto is missing from the PDC Asian Championship, but the aforementioned three Filipinos are competing. If one or two of these players make it to the finals, the Worlds spots will advance to the semifinalists.
The big absentee at the PDC Asian Championship is Man Lok Leung. The dart player from Hong Kong made a great impression at last year's World Darts Championship and managed to score a sensational victory over Gian van Veen thanks to many 180 scores. Leung finished fifth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, narrowly missing out on qualification for the World Darts Championship via that route.
(1) Alexis Toylo
(2) Lourence Ilagan
(3) Paolo Nebrida
(4) Sandro Eric Sosing
(5) Haruki Muramatsu
(6) Paul Lim
(7) Reynaldo Rivera
(8) Nitin Kumar
(9) Lok Yin Lee
(10) Sonny Millo Balagat
(11) Shusaku Nakamura
(12) Ryan Condat
(13) Yoshihisa Baba
(14) Tan Jenn Ming
(15) Noel Malicdem
(16) Norisame Wahab
Pupo Teng Lieh
Joel Hizon
Tengku Shah
Royden Lam
Jemel Modesto
Vikehelie Suohu
Abdul Qahar
Adbulla Eshaq
Putra Utama
Woonghee Han
Clarence Chan
Hussein Mohammed
Sorawis Rodman
Gantulga Samdan
John Ray Sajol
John Mark Bracero
Aris Quijano
John Rizz Sabanal
Alfel Guen Sanico
Jargalsaikhan Ulzibuyan
John Marco Lumilang
Alvin Maguate
Eduardo Jr Largo
Christian Delos Reyes
Arthur Castelo
Anthony Melendres
Christian Perez
Yuan Lun Han
Raymond Copano
Ryan Jay Galceran
Marvic Meana
Rodolfo Jr Escaros
Winner - $15,000
Runner-up $7,000
Semifinals - $5,000
Quarterfinals - $3,000
Final 16 - $2,000
Second in group - $1,500
Third in group - $1,000
Total - $100,000
Group stage: Best of 9 legs
Last 16: Best of 9 legs
Quarterfinals: Best of 11 legs
Semifinals: Best of 11 legs
Final: Best of 13 legs