These are the 48 participants at the 2024 PDC Asian Championship: Can Paul Lim qualify for the PDC World Darts Championship?

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