2022-2023 PDC Affiliate Tours

[tungsten tossers]

From the PDC website

Darts across Asia will receive a boost in September with the introduction of the $100,000 PDC Asian Championship in Fukuoka.

The four-day 2022 PDC Asian Championship from September 22-25 will give players across the region a chance to secure one of four spots in the Cazoo World Darts Championship as well as scoop the $15,000 top prize.

The 48-player main event on September 24-25 will be preceded by two days of Asian Series qualifiers in Fukuoka, with four qualifying events being split across September 22-23.

The last four players from each qualifier will secure a place in the main event, alongside a further 11 players from an Asian Series Order of Merit.

The main event will also feature the eight players who will compete in the 2022 World Cup of Darts for Japan, Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong, plus one additional qualifier per country.

A further nine regional qualifiers - being held in mainland China, India, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the UAE - will each produce one qualifier.

The PDC Asian Championship will be streamed through PDCTV for all subscribers worldwide across all four days. Action from the qualifiers will also be streamed through Felix Darts' YouTube channel across Asia.

"We're delighted to be able to introduce the PDC Asian Championship as we look to bring competitive darts back to the continent after Covid," said PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter.

"It's been a long two years for our Asian Tour players and we really wanted to give them something to look forward to before hopefully bringing the full tour back in 2023.

"With the chance to qualify for the World Championship, as well as be crowned the first ever PDC Asian Champion, this is a huge boost for Asian players and an exciting addition to our calendar.

"We'd also like to thank IDCDARTS and Felix for their support in staging the 2022 PDC Asian Championship as we boost darts across Asia."

The 48 player main event will begin with a round-robin stage on Saturday September 24, with the players split into 16 groups of three. The round-robin stage will be played across eight boards, including one streamed board.

Each group winner will then progress to compete in the last 16 later on September 24, with Sunday September 25 featuring the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The last 16 onwards will be played on one board and streamed in full.

Entry for the Asian Series Qualifiers will be available from July 1 2022 via the PDC Asian Tour website, costing ¥30,000 (Japanese Yuan)/US$235.

2022 PDC Asian Championship
Thursday September 22 (1100 start)
Asian Series Qualifiers 1-2

Friday September 23 (1100 start)
Asian Series Qualifiers 3-4

Saturday September 24 (1100 start)
Round-Robin Stage
Last 16

Sunday September 25 (1200 start)
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final

Prize Fund ($US)
Winner $15,000
Runner-Up $7,000
Semi-Finalists $5,000
Quarter-Finalists $3,000
Last 16 $2,000
Second in Group $1,500
Third in Group $1,000
Total $100,000

Format
Asian Series Qualifiers: Best of seven legs
Round-Robin Stage: Best of nine legs
Last 16: Best of nine legs
Quarter-Finals: Best of 11 legs
Semi-Finals: Best of 11 legs
Final: Best of 13 legs

In the Asian Series Qualifiers, players will receive one point per victory from the first full round drawn without Byes to form the Orders of Merit. Any ties will be split as follows based on all match results: Leg Difference, Legs Won, Legs Won Against Throw, Tournament Average, Play-Off.

Any pre-qualified player who withdraws before August 31 2022 will be replaced by a player from their country's qualifier. Any withdrawal after August 31 will be replaced by an additional player from the Asian Series Order of Merit.

[thegentle]

Unless they find a way to seed this (unlikely, as there are various qualifiers from various countries and routes with very different levels of pedigree), there could be some real danger in the early rounds for the big guns

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[thegentle]

Are the events in the new nations only open to players from those nations? I don't imagine they did this hoping to get a Macanese or an Emirati player involved, I imagine it's to give the various Hong Kong players and Kumar a shot Sent from my HRY-LX1 using Tapatalk

Would guess the 13 regional qualifiers are restricted to those countries, maybe with the exception of the UAE one.

The big route into the tournament will be the on-site qualifying anyway, there are at least 27 places up for grabs there.

Do we know what the format will be?

Click through to the pdc.tv article from the tweet, it's all in there. 16 groups of 3, winners go through.

Well the vast majority of the population of the UAE are non-citizens anyway, so if there is a country where they'll open it up to non-citizens, it'll be them! Will be interesting to see a Macanese player there, I presume they have been represented on the Asian Tour, but I couldn't tell you any players from there, the rest of the countries might not exactly be powerhouses, but mostly have one player who is semi-decent

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[TheMalteseDart]

Even if it is Japanese and Philippines players cleaning up in all these countries at least it’ll give the chance for players from UAE, Macau etc to have a chance

Never considered South Korea either, wonder what the interest in darts is like over there

[The Thorn]

Even if it is Japanese and Philippines players cleaning up in all these countries at least it’ll give the chance for players from UAE, Macau etc to have a chance Never considered South Korea either, wonder what the interest in darts is like over there

Got a few decent soft tip players

[Zeyes]

Well the vast majority of the population of the UAE are non-citizens anyway, so if there is a country where they'll open it up to non-citizens, it'll be them!

I was thinking more in terms of citizens + permanent residents as the "standard" for all the qualifiers, in accordance with the normal PDC rules. So something wider than that for the UAE would mean incorporating players from other Arabic countries.

[thegentle]

Even if it is Japanese and Philippines players cleaning up in all these countries at least it’ll give the chance for players from UAE, Macau etc to have a chance Never considered South Korea either, wonder what the interest in darts is like over there

Got a few decent soft tip players

Park Hyun-Chul is their best known player, he has played at the famous Shanghai Darts Masters in the past, and made a final on the first ever Asian Tour weekend. Pupo Teng is the most well-known Taiwanese player, hasn't played on TV as far as I know, but made a final on the Asian Tour and can throw a dart for sure. Obviously Malaysia and Thailand have had a few players who have graced the Ally Pally and World Cup stages, with varying levels of quality

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[thegentle]

Well the vast majority of the population of the UAE are non-citizens anyway, so if there is a country where they'll open it up to non-citizens, it'll be them!

I was thinking more in terms of citizens + permanent residents as the "standard" for all the qualifiers, in accordance with the normal PDC rules. So something wider than that for the UAE would mean incorporating players from other Arabic countries.

Perhaps, although I don't think the UAE have the best relationship with their neighbours right now! Can't think of any players from the Arab world off the top of my head, imagine it'll be mostly ex-pats like Kumar (assuming he doesn't play in the Indian qualifier)

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[Zeyes]

Apparently there's going to be a 14th qualifying event to the Asian Championship, staged in Bahrain, according to new promo material out of the PDC's Japanese business partner.

[Dick]

Hasn’t the German qualifier normally been done and dusted by now with that long winded German Superleague event? When’s that due?

[Zeyes]

Hasn’t the German qualifier normally been done and dusted by now with that long winded German Superleague event? When’s that due?

Nothing announced yet, and rumoured to be much later in the year this time (October or November) after last year's messy outcome where Schindler qualified as the German representative and then came through as a Pro Tour qualifier anyway.

[Safc]

I suspect Hempel, Hopp and Pietreczko will all play it

[DeepFriedRat]

and Phill Barrs favourite sort, Michael Unterbuchner!!

[Zeyes]

Entries opened for the Asian Championship on-site qualifying today. Will be capped at 512 total.

[thegentle]

Hasn’t the German qualifier normally been done and dusted by now with that long winded German Superleague event? When’s that due?

Nothing announced yet, and rumoured to be much later in the year this time (October or November) after last year's messy outcome where Schindler qualified as the German representative and then came through as a Pro Tour qualifier anyway.

Schindler was actually classified as an international qualifier as a result of that win early in the year, Hempel was 'lucky' to miss match darts in that final which allowed him to be classified as a ProTour player, only for them both to draw each other in the first round!

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[thegentle]

and Phill Barrs favourite sort, Michael Unterbuchner!!

Do we actually know who's in the German Superleague? It's been hard to keep up with all the changes to the format over the last few years, although I'm not sure if Hopp can do it since he shunned it when he was qualifying for the Worlds via the main tour

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[Zeyes]

and Phill Barrs favourite sort, Michael Unterbuchner!!

Do we actually know who's in the German Superleague? It's been hard to keep up with all the changes to the format over the last few years, although I'm not sure if Hopp can do it since he shunned it when he was qualifying for the Worlds via the main tour Sent from my HRY-LX1 using Tapatalk

Last year's was a single all-invitational event with a larger than usual field due to PDC Europe's Covid-related inability to stage any qualifying tourneys. I think it's not going back to the old multi-week league format at least this year, but I haven't heard anything how the players will be selected this time. Heavily based on invites with a small qualifier attached would be my guess.

[The Thorn]

"PDC Europe are cunts"

[oche balboa]

Entries opened for the Asian Championship on-site qualifying today. Will be capped at 512 total.

Will not get 512

[Zeyes]

Probably not, yeah. Soft capped at 400 for Japanese players just in case by the way, unless/until it becomes clear that there aren't enough international players to get to 512 total.

First day had 34 entries on the Japanese side, then they unfortunately removed the entry list from view.