WITH eight qualifiers confirming their place in the 21.co.uk Shanghai Darts Masters, we give the lowdown on the Asian players who will take on the eight PDC representatives.
Asian Representatives Royden Lam, Seigo Asada, Lourence Ilagan and Hailong Chen have been joined by Chinese quartet Xiaochen Zong, Yuanjun Liu, Chengan Liu and Lihao Wen in qualifying for Thursday's event at the Pullman Hotel Shanghai South.
Here we take a closer look at the eight Asian players:
Royden Lam
Nickname: The Wolf
DOB: September 8, 1975
Darts Used: 22g Cosmo
Home town: Hong Kong
Nationality: Hong Kong
Career History:
Royden Lam is a familiar face to many darts fans having represented Hong Kong four times at the World Cup of Darts, reaching the quarter-finals in 2015 with wins over Wales & Ireland.
The current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader held a PDC Tour Card in 2013-14 and made his Alexandra Palace debut at the 2014 World Championship where he defeated Gino Vos in the preliminary round before losing to Wes Newton.
Lam, who starred in the 2016 and 2017 Shanghai Darts Masters, won back his Tour Card in January 2017 and qualified for the UK Open for a second time in March 2017, losing out to Ron Meulenkamp in round one.
Seigo Asada
Nickname: The Ninja
DOB: March 6, 1980
Darts Used: 19g Unicorn
Home town: Osaka, Japan
Nationality: Japanese
Career History:
Seigo Asada made his PDC debut at the 2016 Japan Darts Masters before qualifying for the 2018 World Championship where he won his preliminary game against Gordon Mathers before losing to eventual champion Rob Cross in round one.
The Japanese star represented his country at the 2018 World Cup of Darts alongside Haruki Muramatsu as the pair impressed to reach the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Scotland.
Asada currently sits third on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, claiming victory at Event Two in Seoul, South Korea in March.
Lourence Ilagan
Nickname: The Gunner
DOB: February 11, 1978
Darts Used: 22g
Home town: Cainta, Philippines
Nationality: Filipino
Career History:
Lourence Ilagan has been one of the top players in Asia for the past decade, having made his World Championship debut in 2009 and appearing at Alexandra Palace once again in 2013 where he defeated Jamie Lewis in the preliminary round.
The Filipino has represented his country twice at the World Cup of Darts in 2012 and 2015 and currently sits in second place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, having won back-to-back events in Macau in April.
Xaiochen Zong
Nickname: The Pandaman
DOB: March 8, 1998
Darts Used: 21g Unicorn
Home town: Liaoning, China
Nationality: Chinese
Career History:
Xaiochen Zong is the youngest player in the field this weekend and has shown great potential in his career since first appearing on the PDC Unicorn Development Tour in 2016.
The Chinese youngster played in last year's Shanghai Darts Masters, where he met James Wade, and went on to compete in the World Championship where he was defeated by Bernie Smith.
Zong represented his country at the World Cup of Darts last month alongside Momo Zhou.
Yuanjun Liu
DOB: April 21, 1982
Darts Used: 21g Unicorn
Home town: Guangxi, China
Nationality: Chinese
Career History:
Yuanjun Liu is a relative newcomer to the sport, first appearing in a World Championship qualifier in October 2014.
Liu met Phil Taylor in the inaugural Shanghai Darts Masters in 2016, and is a two-time World Cup of Darts representative for China.
Chengan Liu
Nickname: Stone Buddha
DOB: December 20, 1972
Darts Used: 21g Cuesoul
Home town: Hebei, China
Nationality: Chinese
Career History:
Chengan Liu appeared at the 2006 World Championship, where he went down to John Part, and played in Shanghai 12 months ago, where he met Raymond van Barneveld in round one.
Lihao Wen (pictured centre)
Nickname: The Sword
DOB: February 8, 1983
Darts Used: 23g Target
Home town: Sichuan
Nationality: Chinese
Career History:
Lihao Wen played in Shanghai two years ago, where he lost out to Raymond van Barneveld, and has played on the Asian Tour this year.
Hailong Chen
Nickname: TC
DOB: October 11, 1976
Darts Used: 22g Target
Home town: Shanghai, China
Nationality: Chinese
Career History:
Hailong Chen is another newcomer to the sport, making his PDC debut at last year's Shanghai Darts Masters where he was defeated by eventual champion Michael van Gerwen.
The eight Asian Representatives will come up against the eight PDC stars in Friday's first round of the 21.co.uk Shanghai Darts Masters, which concludes on Saturday with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The 21.co.uk Shanghai Darts Masters will be broadcast worldwide through the PDC's international broadcast partners, and through PDCTV-HD for Rest of the World subscribers (outside of UK, Ireland and Netherlands).
UK TV coverage on ITV4 is delayed to 8pm BST on each day.
21.co.uk Shanghai Darts Masters
Draw Bracket
(1) Gary Anderson v Royden Lam
Michael Smith v Xiaochen Zong
(4) Michael van Gerwen v Lihao Wen
Daryl Gurney v Lourence Ilagan
(2) Rob Cross v Chengan Liu
James Wade v Hailong Chen
(3) Peter Wright v Seigo Asada
Gerwyn Price v Yuanjun Liu
Friday July 13 (6.30pm local time)
Gerwyn Price v Yuanjun Liu
James Wade v Hailong Chen
(2) Rob Cross v Chengan Liu
(3) Peter Wright v Seigo Asada
Michael Smith v Xiaochen Zong
Daryl Gurney v Lourence Ilagan
(4) Michael van Gerwen v Lihao Wen
(1) Gary Anderson v Royden Lam
All games best of 11 Legs
Saturday July 14 (6.30pm local time)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
All games best of 15 legs