Dubai did not merely host the opening chapter of the 2026 PDC Asian Tour; it amplified it, projecting a vision of a circuit growing sharper, deeper, and increasingly impossible to ignore. Four events across two days, continents converging, and a clear message delivered with authority: Asian darts is not emerging. It has arrived.
At the centre of the opening surge stood Haruki Muramatsu, who treated the first weekend as personal territory. Across Saturday’s twin events, the Japanese stalwart stitched together back-to-back titles with performances that blended composure and cruelty in equal measure. In the opening tournament of the new season, he overturned a 4–2 deficit in the final against World Championship regular Motomu Sakai, reeling off three legs without hesitation to seal the trophy with a commanding and solid display. It was resilience weaponised.
That momentum never cooled. The second event followed the same pattern, only louder. Muramatsu dismantled Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren 5–1 in the final with a close on ton performance, completing a day that yielded seven victories without once being dragged to a deciding leg. Efficiency like that does not happen by accident. It is intent, rehearsed and executed.
If Muramatsu provided the weekend’s backbone, brilliance arrived in flashes elsewhere. Tseng Chi-Jui carved his name into the record books with a staggering 115.62 average – the joint-highest ever recorded on the Asian Tour – during a ruthless whitewash in round two. It was a reminder that ceilings across the continent are being raised in real time.
Sunday brought recalibration and redemption. Man Lok Leung, stung by Saturday’s near-misses, responded with authority. The Hong Kong ace conceded just a single leg en route to the semi-finals before overpowering Eduardo Largo and then closing out Alain AbiAbi in the final to claim his eighth Asian Tour crown. Control restored. Order reasserted.
The weekend concluded with a landmark moment. Ryuta Arihara secured his maiden Asian Tour title, surviving match darts and multiple deciding legs to edge Christian Perez in a final that swung violently until its last breath. Perez had earlier produced perfection with a nine-darter, yet even that wasn’t enough to deny Arihara a place in the winners’ circle as the circuit’s 30th different champion.
This is the ecosystem now: depth, danger, diversity. And with five World Championship places awaiting the season’s top performers, every dart thrown carries consequence.
Next stop: Shizuoka, Japan, 4th & 5th April.
2026 PDC ASIAN TOUR
January 24–25, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Event One
Quarter-Finals
Haruki Muramatsu 4-1 Alexis Toylo
Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren 4-3 Timothy Ryan Theseira
Motomu Sakai 4-1 Boldbaatar Bayarmagnai
Man Lok Leung 4-1 Norisame Bin Wahab
Semi-Finals
Haruki Muramatsu 5-3 Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren
Motomu Sakai 5-2 Man Lok Leung
Final
Haruki Muramatsu 5-4 Motomu Sakai
EVENT TWO
Quarter-Finals
Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren 4-2 Jun Hao Terry Tan
Joey Marinduque 4-1 Yoshihisa Baba
Phuay Wei Tan 4-3 Bryan Espinola
Haruki Muramatsu 4-2 Noel Malicdem
Semi-Finals
Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren 5-1 Jun Hao Terry Tan
Haruki Muramatsu 5-1 Phuay Wei Tan
Final
Haruki Muramatsu 5-1 Altantulkhuur Myagmarsuren
EVENT THREE
Quarter-Finals
Motomu Sakai 4-0 Vic Erwin Buling
Alain AbiAbi 4-3 Lourence Ilagan
Eduardo Largo 4-2 Alexis Toylo
Man Lok Leung 4-0 Ryusei Azemoto
Semi-Finals
Alain AbiAbi 5-3 Motomu Sakai
Man Lok Leung 5-1 Eduardo Largo
Final
Man Lok Leung 5-3 Alain AbiAbi
EVENT FOUR
Quarter-Finals
Motomu Sakai 4-2 Noisome Bin Wahab
Christian Perez 4-3 Alain AbiAbi
Ryuta Arihara 4-3 Lok Yin Lee
Lourence Ilagan 4-3 Chi-Jui Tseng
Semi-Finals
Christian Perez 5-1 Motomu Sakai
Ryuta Arihara 5-4 Lourence Ilagan
Final
Ryuta Arihara 5-4 Christian Perez
——ENDS—–
Images: PDC
