The final weekend of action on the 2026 Asian Tour took place in Hainan, China over the weekend, where the players fight it out for spots at the World Championships, as well as the four titles up for grabs.
The top five on the PDC Asian Tour qualify for the World Championships, and going into the weekend it seemed there would be just seven players fighting it out for those spots. Christian Perez led the way, followed by Motomu Sakai, Ryuta Arihara, Haruki Muramatsu and Man Lok Leung, with Paolo Nebrida and Lok Yin Lee sitting just outside the top five.
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There was $3,350 separating the top seven, followed by a gap of $4,000 between Lok Yin Lee in seventh and Yuya Fukuchi in eighth, highlighting how up for grabs everything seemed to be prior to play on Saturday morning.
Asian Darts Tour Event 25
The first event of the weekend saw early exits for Leung in the Last 128, followed by Perez, Sakai and Lee in the Last 64. With Muramatsu and Arihara also falling short in the Last 64, it meant for a massive opportunity for Paolo Nebrida (below) in the race for a spot at the World Championships.
Wins over the likes of Alain AbiAbi and Mitsuhiko Tatsunami saw the Filipino number two reach the Semi-Finals, however he was taken out by China number one Xiaochen Zong, who reached a first Asian Tour Final in over three years!
Xiaochen Zong took on Rolly Gabiana for the title. Gabiana was competing in his very first final on the Asian Tour, having been playing on the circuit since 2019, and he did not disappoint. The man from the Philippines breezed past home favourite Zong 5-1, becoming the 33rd player to pick up a title on the Asian Tour.
The performance of the event came from Paolo Nebrida, averaging a brilliant 108.36 in his 4-1 win over Christian de los Reyes in the Quarter-Finals
Quarter-Finals
Xiaochen Zong (88.7) 4-2 Yuya Fukuchi (82.9)
Paolo Nebrida (108.4) 4-1 Christian de los Reyes (94.9)
Rolly Gabiana (84.4) 4-1 Lihao Wen (81.3)
Joel Hizon (93.9) 4-0 Nitin Kumar (78.7)
Semi-Finals
Xiaochen Zong (85.5) 5-3 Paolo Nebrida (90.9)
Rolly Gabiana (89.9) 5-4 Joel Hizon (83.1)
Final
Rolly Gabiana (82.6) 5-1 Xiaochen Zong (76.8)
Event 26
The second event of Saturday got underway in the afternoon, with the only change in the World Championship race being Nebrida jumping above Leung into the fifth and final spot. Motomu Sakai further his Ally Pally chances with a run to the Quarter-Finals, while Leung managed to reach the Semi-Finals, jumping back above Paolo Nebrida, who fell in the Last 16.
Man Lok Leung lost in the Semi-Final stage, with Ryuta Arihara taking him out to reach the final, but this also confirmed the Japanese thrower would qualify for his first PDC World Championship. Ryuta Arihara went into the 2026 Asian Tour having never picked up a title and beating Gabiana in the final saw him pick up a fifth of the year! An incredible way to announce yourself on a continental stage.
Arihara also produces the third highest average of the entire tour in 2026, firing in a 113.64 in his Last 32 win over Eduardo Largo.
Quarter-Finals
Rolly Gabiana (97.0) 4-0 Motomu Sakai (92.0)
Lourence Ilagan (94.8) 4-1 Haruki Muramatsu (89.3)
Ryuta Arihara (83.4) 4-1 Junlong Jin (71.7)
Man Lok Leung (85.9) 4-0 Muhammad Haikal Bin Rusli (72.2)
Semi-Finals
Rolly Gabiana (91.1) 5-3 Lourence Ilagan (86.8)
Ryuta Arihara (90.5) 5-3 Man Lok Leung (85.7)
Final
Ryuta Arihara (88.2) 5-3 Rolly Gabiana (85.7)
Event 27
Going into the final day of action on the Asian Tour this year, Sakai, Perez, Muramatsu and Nebrida sat in the remaining four World Championship spots, followed by the Hong Kong pair of Leung and Lee. $500 separated second down to fourth, while Nebrida and Leung sat level on $14,000, $1.3k below fourth placed Muramatsu, and $1.3k above seventh placed Lee.
With five of the six players fighting out for the World Championship spots losing out before the Last 16 phase, the penultimate event meant for a big chance for Lok Yin Lee to catch up to those above.
The former World Cup Quarter-Finalist picked up wins against the likes of Xicheng Han and Norhisame Bin Wahab, before beating the promising talent of Christian de los Reyes in the Final, claiming a third Asian Tour title of the year. This shot Lee above Nebrida and Leung into the fifth and final spot for the World Championships, but a nice $1,050 clear of sixth place.
Worth noting that, up until this point, Christian de los Reyes lost to the eventual champion in all four events over the weekend! The event was his first final on the Asian Tour, having deputed in 2019 but not committing until last year, while it was a first Semi-Final for Malaysia’s Norhisame Bin Wahab.
The performance of the event came from Filipino Alfel Sanico, playing in just his third Asian Tour weekend, putting in an average of 105.47 in a 4-0 win hover Muhammad Haikel Bin Rusli in the Last 64
Quarter-Finals
Noel Malicdem (88.0) 4-2 Tianxiao Cao (79.6)
Christian de los Reyes (91.1) 4-2 Alexis Toylo (85.6)
Lok Yin Lee (90.7) 4-1 Xicheng Han (81.3)
Norhisame Bin Wahab (81.0) 4-1 Yuta Hayashi (78.1)
Semi-Finals
Christian de los Reyes (97.4) 5-1 Noel Malicdem (84.0)
Lok Yin Lee (79.1) 5-2 Norhisame Bin Wahab (83.8)
Final
Lok Yin Lee (92.0) 5-2 Christian de los Reyes (94.0)
Event 28
The final event of the Asian Tour came around, and still four of the five spots remained undecided! The gap between second place Perez and fifth place Lee was just $750, with Sakai and Muramatsu sandwiched between, and a gap of $1,050 to both Nebrida and Leung below, meaning one of them would have to reach at least a final to gatecrash the spots.
The first bit of news came around about the Last 32 stage of the event. Following the loss of Christian Perez, Motomu Sakai jumped into second on the Order of Merit, and simultaneously confirmed his spot at Ally Pally for the 2027 World Championships. Having beaten Thibault Tricole on his debut last year, Sakai became a cult-hero in London and will look to improve on his run to the Second Round in December.
Just minutes later, the exit of Man Lok Leung in the Last 32 also secured Christian Perez’s spot at Alexander Palace. The former ProTour finalist hadn’t qualified for a World Championship since winning his Tour Card in 2023, and is a very welcome return, having previously appeared in 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2023. He is still looking for his first win on the biggest stage of all.
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Shortley later more news came from Hainan. With Lok Yin Lee losing in the Last 32, Nebrida was now the only person below the top 4 capable of breaking into the World Championship spots, hence confirming Haruki Muramatsu’s qualification for the World Championship. A brilliant haul of four titles on the Asian Tour this year for “Rising Sun”, who has qualified for a sixth World Championship, with his previous appearances coming in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2024, without a win on any of those occasions.
This meant just one more spot was up for grabs. Lok Yin Lee occupied it, but Paolo Nebrida could nick it with a title in the very last event. To the relief of the Hong Kong slinger, Nebrida was halted in the Quarter-Finals by fellow Filipino Alain AbiAbi, hence securing a World Championship return for Lok Yin Lee. Lee’s debut came in the 2025 edition, beating Chris Landman before falling short against Brendan Dolan. He returns in December having missed out last year.
The World Championship spots were decided, but the drama didn’t end there, there was still a title to play for. Asian Tour dominates of previous years, Alexis Toylo and Lourence Ilagan, reached the final, a final where the winner would secure eighth spot. Due to other circumstances I will go over later, finishing eighth could potentially be vital!
Toylo managed to get the job done in a low quality match, picking up his first title of 2026, and eleventh overall.
Quarter-Finals
Ryuta Arihara (78.1) 4-0 Kam Weng Cheng (73.7)
Lourence Ilagan (84.9) 4-3 Haruki Muramatsu (84.3)
Alexis Toylo (81.0) 4-1 Christian de los Reyes (70.1)
Alain AbiAbi (82.5) 4-3 Paolo Nebrida (88.0)
Semi-Finals
Lourence Ilagan (84.0) 5-4 Ryuta Arihara (91.7)
Alexis Toylo (88.2) 5-2 Alain AbiAbi (80.0)
Final
Alexis Toylo (75.2) 5-3 Lourence Ilagan (74.8)
What this means?
Ryuta Arihara, Motomu Sakai, Christian Perez, Haruki Muramatsu, and Lok Yin Lee finished the season in the top 5, securing their spots for the World Championships, while Arihara also secures free entry to Stage Two of Q-School having won the Order of Merit.
Paolo Nebrida, Man Lok Leung and Alexis Toylo also join them as the eight qualifiers for the preliminary rounds of the 2027 Winmau World Masters.
It is worth noting that Motomu Sakai is top of the Japan Tour and is almost certainly going to win it during the final block of events on the 22nd-23rd September. This would result in him taking the Japanese qualifier spot at the World Championships, and Paolo Nebrida qualifying through the Asian Tour.
But the World Championships spots aren’t done there. The Asian Championship rounds of the action in Hainan from Monday morning at 1am BST, with both of the finalists also securing spots at the World Championships. Should these finalists already be qualified for the World Championships, the spots would get passed down the Asian Tour further, with Man Lok Leung sitting in seventh, and Alexis Toylo in eighth, highlighting the importance of Toylo’s title in Event 28.
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The Asian Championship consists of a few regional qualifiers across Asia, joined by roughly the top 50-60 on the Asian Tour, adding up to 64 players. The winner also qualified for the 2026 Grand Slam of Darts in November, as well as the World Championship spots for the finalists.
Images: PDC
