Alexis Toylo and Ryusei Azemoto will make their Paddy Power World Darts Championship debuts in December after qualifying alongside Lourence Ilagan and Paolo Nebrida from the PDC Asian Tour.
A bumper final weekend of the 2024 PDC Asian Tour season saw six events take place from October 4-6 in Qingdao, China, as the biggest names in Asian darts battled it out for Alexandra Palace qualification.
Toylo was already assured of his place in the sport’s flagship event ahead of the weekend, having won five of the year’s opening 11 events to underline his emergence.
The 32-year-old made his big stage bow in June’s World Cup of Darts, and he will now make his Alexandra Palace debut alongside his fellow countryman Ilagan and Nebrida.
Ilagan will make his ninth World Championship appearance in December after turning on the style in Qingdao, featuring in three consecutive finals and claiming the Event 23 title.
Ilagan suffered back-to-back deciding-leg defeats in the Event 21 and 22 finals, succumbing to Japan’s Tomoya Goto and China’s Lihao Wen respectively.
However, the enigmatic Ilagan made amends with a 5-4 success against reigning PDC Asian Champion Haruki Muramatsu, which confirmed his Alexandra Palace return.
Nebrida, meanwhile, will make his third consecutive appearance in the sport’s flagship event, having claimed four titles and featured in a further two finals to clinch third spot on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
Japanese star Azemoto claimed the fourth and final qualification spot, having kicked off the weekend’s action with victory over his fellow countryman Mitsuhiko Tatsunami in Event 19.
Azemoto won back-to-back titles in Manila back in April, and also whitewashed Reynaldo Rivera in the Event 12 showpiece in Malaysia, as he finished the 2024 season with four titles to his name.
Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung – who lit up Alexandra Palace on his debut 12 months ago – just missed out on qualification in fifth position, after losing out to Malaysia’s Jenn Ming Tan in the Event 20 showpiece.
Muramatsu was the weekend’s other winner, denying China’s Wen in a last-leg shoot-out to triumph in Event 24 and mark the perfect preparation ahead of his defence of the PDC Asian Championship.
The third staging of the PDC Asian Championship will take place in Manila from October 17-20, as the continent’s top stars compete in the US$100,000 event.
The PDC Asian Championship winner and runner-up will qualify for the World Darts Championship, but if either or both players have already qualified from the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit then the place(s) would be passed to the next-best-placed non-qualified player from the PDC Asian Championship (split by PDC Asian Tour OOM if required using standard PDC countback rules).
2024 PDC Asian Tour
October 4-6, Qingdao, China
Event 19
Final
Ryusei Azemoto 5-2 Mitsuhiko Tatsunami
Event 20
Final
Jenn Ming Tan 5-3 Man Lok Leung
Event 21
Final
Tomoya Goto 5-4 Lourence Ilagan
Event 22
Final
Lihao Wen 5-4 Lourence Ilagan
Event 23
Final
Lourence Ilagan 5-4 Haruki Muramatsu
Event 24
Final
Haruki Muramatsu 5-4 Lihao Wen