Hello readers all over the world, it’s nice to be back with another article. It’s time to put some Asian players in the spotlight again and this time it will be about the Asian teams who played at the 2025 PDC World Cup of Darts. Held in Frankfurt, some of our teams got really far into the tournament, while others sadly went out after the first round.
Thanks to the PDC, Mastercaller and of course the amazing players, AsianDarts was able to speak to the teams from Malaysia, India, Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. All of the interviews can be found below. Especially in the press conferences, the questions are for one part related to the World Cup, but I also tried to ask questions that are interesting in general if you want to learn more about these players and Asian darts.
Last month AsianDarts published an article about darts in Kazakhstan. Through the publishing of that article, I was also able to learn more about the neighbouring country Uzbekistan and their darts community. The organizers of both countries are now joining forces to grow darts in both countries. But first, let’s talk about darts in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan is a country with a very small darts community. There are no big tournaments but only regional ones in small towns. Maksim Kim organized a lot of tournaments in the Sirdarya region. Maksim organized small competitions in his town, but he also travelled to Almaty (17 hours by train) to join the Shakespeare Cup tournaments in Kazakhstan. Asking why, Maksim says he wants to get better at darts and he’s happy to join the Shakespeare Cup in Almaty for that. The first time he visited Almaty, he went together with one of Uzbekistan’s best and most active ladies players, Zarema Seitova. Together they won silver in the pairs competition, making name for themselves. On top of that, Zarema won gold at the Ladies Competition and Maksim won gold at the Main Competition.
Zarema Seitova with her gold medal
The amount of players playing in the tournaments in Uzbekistan are about 30 men and 9 women. They all live in the same district as Maksim and during those tournaments, the participants also tend to eat a meal together, making it a fun day among a tight community.
But in such a small darts-country, how did Maksim even start playing darts? Where did his interest for the sport come from?
His darts journey starts way back in 1993, when Maksim first picked up a dart. In 1996 he became Champion of Sirdarya town and later that year he won Silver in the Syrdaria Regional tournament (there is both a region and a city of Sirdarya). In 1997 he quit darts because of personal reasons like marriage and family. In Uzbekistan, darts was at it’s peak in 1996 and stayed kind of popular until 2010. After that, the interest for darts faded away in Uzbekistan, leaving only regional tournaments in Sirdarya. In 2019, Maksim decided to pick up darts seriously again, organizing tournaments and training on daily base.
Maksim after winning first place.
On a central level, there hardly is anything being organized for darts in Uzbekistan. There is a federation which created a website, but there is no activity in the country yet. All dartsplayers of Uzbekistan are waiting for the federation to start working. Maksim recently moved to Kazakhstan to help with building a darts academy in Almaty. Together with Yelzhan Maulenov and Mukhambetov Alimzhan he tries to make darts in Kazakhstan even more popular and they’re trying to grow the sport over there. Asking if there are any plans to grow the sport in Uzbekistan as well, they answer: ‘Yes, we plan to enlarge DARTS Academy darts-clubs appearance in Tashkent (UZ), Sirdarya (UZ) and also other cities in Kazakhstan. We have contacts to discuss, but unfortunately no real starts as for now.’
Maksim is still helping other organizers of local tournaments in Uzbekistan from a distance, so that the tight community is staying strong. And who knows, maybe in the future darts in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan will thrive again.
As the PDC Asian Tour is getting bigger every year, not only more and more people are following the tour closely, but also players from even more nations decide to give one or more of the weekends a shot. This year, we’ve seen players from countries like Kazakhstan, Palestine, Oman and Jordan. During the 8th tournament this year, held in the Philippines, we saw Bruneian talent ‘Abdul Qahar Ukail Hj Shamsul Ariffin or short: Abdul Qahar Ukail’ step up and make it to the semifinals. Brunei, not very well known as a darts country, was put on the map, people actually calling for the Bruneian team to make it to the 2024 PDC World Cup. That didn’t happen, but I’m very happy to have spoken with the young talent from Brunei about his darts journey, his ambitions and goals and his experience during some of the recent tournaments he’s played.
Abdul Qahar Ukail, who is 27 years old and from Bukit Beruang in the Tutong district in Brunei Darussalam is self-employed and spends most of his time training darts at home and joining the local tournament events every week. In a country without a night life and with a small population, Ukail explains how he started out playing darts: ‘’I’ve started playing casually since 2012 with my friends around the neighborhood. At first, I didn’t own any sets of darts and dartboard. Then one day, I joined a tournament in my neighborhood and I won the whole thing by using a house dart that’s provided. As the winner they gave me a set of dart. Since then, I started to play casually by joining local events and small tournaments. I started to love the games eventually.’’
As said in the introduction, Brunei is not exactly known as a darts country and not everyone might have heard of it after all. Brunei is a very small country near Indonesia and Malaysia. Ukail: ‘’Brunei Darussalam is a very peaceful Muslim country that many people in the world are not aware of. Brunei is a very safe country to live in. Schools and hospitals are almost free here for the Bruneians and we live tax free as a Bruneian. If you love nature, Brunei has the best to offer.’’
How does playing darts in Brunei go? Ukail explains: ‘’We don’t have the night life here in Brunei such as clubs, pubs or any forms of night entertainment. Since there is no nightlife in Brunei, I grab the opportunity to spend my time perfecting my darts by training daily at night. I usually train by myself at home, sometime looking for somebody to spar either at my place or at their house. There is a weekly event in Brunei, sometimes it’s a single event sometimes it’s a double event. Nowadays there are a lot of strong dart players here in Brunei that need a lot of exposure.’’
Talking about the Asian Tour, Ukail just participated in Asian Tour 7-9 in the Philippines and made it to the semifinals in Tour 8. He experienced the tour as follows:
‘’Asian Tour is a whole experience for me because before that I only joined the big tournaments in the Malaysian darts scene, I also knew most of the strong dart players came from the Philippines, that’s why I want to challenged myself and start my Asian tour in Manila, Philippines. I didn’t expect to reach the semifinal stage on tour 8, for me it was like a stepping stone to reach another stage in my career.
In the last 32 I was paired with Robbie Wong from Malaysia; it was an intense match where he lead 3-0 but I managed to compose myself and making a comeback with hitting a 148 finish at the deciding leg.
In the semifinal match I got paired with Tomoya Goto from Japan. He’s a very strong player! I can compete in terms of scoring, but his finishing is very strong. Sadly, I lost to him 5-0. Nevertheless, the whole experience thought me that nothing is impossible if you put your heart and soul into it.’’
Another recent tournament Ukail has played, is the Winmau Sabah Masters in Malaysia, a steel tip tournament played on FIDO boards, where Ukail claimed the singles and team title and was semi finalist in the doubles event. You can watch the singles final below the interview. After that, Ukail also played the PDC Asian Tour 10-12 in Malaysia, making the T64 in all three tournaments.
As to the question if Ukail has plans to play more tournaments overseas and as what his aspirations are for the next year, he said: ‘’I would love to enter more of PDC Tournaments either in Asia or EU. My main target currently is either the Asian Stage / Championship or god’s willing to Biggest of all PDC World Championship next year. I would also like to compete for a spot for the PDC World Cup of Darts next year.”
He describes the highlights in his darts career as following:
This year alone:
Champion 3some events, in Kuching,Sarawak.
Champion Marzuq international double open 2024 in Miri, Sarawak.
Champion Sabah Open 2024.
Semi Finalist Asian Tour 8.
Winmau Sabah Masters 2024 winning the single open category and team event. And semi Finalist in Double event
His inspiration in darts is local player Pengiran Mohamed. Darts fans may know him for being the first Bruneian darts player to participate in a World Championship, as he qualified for the 2018 BDO World Championship.
‘’He’s been playing for 20+ years and still playing at his best performances and he is considered as my mentor in darts. Another inspiration is Dutch player Michael Van Gerwen, because of his aggressive playstyle and his dominance in darts world.’’
As a final message to the readers, Abdul Qahar Ukail says:
‘’I would like to thank my family especially my mom, dad, family and friends for supporting me all the way. I would also like thank asiandarts.sport.blog for giving me this opportunity to tell more about Asian darts scene and especially for Bruneian darts scene.’’
I’d really like to thank Qahar for his time and effort he put into answering my questions for AsianDarts and wish him the best of luck on his darts journey and achieving his goals.
Picture credits: PDC Asia, Abdul Qahar Ukail (FB).
Hello everyone! Today I’m happy to announce this interview with one of Japan’s best players currently: Jun Matsuda. Currently in the top 4 of the PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit and on a World Championship spot, Jun was so kind to answer my questions about darts, the PDC, WDF and future plans.
I hope you all enjoy reading this interview.
(The interview below is in both Japanese and English. There might be some spelling errors here and there, because I wrote the questions in Dutch and translated with a combination of my own knowledge of the Japanese language and the help of a translator.)
What was the reason you started playing darts, and when was it?
The reason I started playing darts was because I had been playing billiards since I was around 17 years old, and soft dart machines were introduced there.
In billiards, there are times when you have to wait a while for your turn, but with darts, the turns always come in order, so I thought it was fair (laughs).
仕事は何をしていて、ダーツ以外の趣味は何ですか？
仕事は元々はリサイクルショップを個人で営んでおりました。
が…今はダーツが専業になってます。
趣味はアウトドアですね。
北海道は冬が非常に寒いのでキャンプに最適です♪
What do you do for work, and what are your other hobbies besides darts?
I used to run a recycling shop on my own. But… now darts has become my main occupation.
My hobby is outdoor activities. Hokkaido is very cold in winter, so it’s perfect for camping♪
In 2019, you participated in the Phoenix Perfect Tour for the first time. You won immediately and soon after got sponsored by L-Style and DYNASTY. Can you tell me why you decided to participate and about your experiences afterward?
The reason I decided to join the “PERFECT” pro organization of PHOENIX DARTS had several factors.
First, I ranked first in the “light League” of the 2019 Steel League, and as a reward, I was invited to ADA Hong Kong. I think that was the inspiration♪ Seeing such strong players in Asia made me think that if there are players this strong, it would be even more interesting to become a pro (laughs). Another reason was my desire to promote darts in Hokkaido. I wanted to prove that I could compete even from Hokkaido. So far, it seems to be working well (laughs). Sponsors like “Lstyle” and “DYNASTY” have been really good to me. This year, I’m also grateful for the sponsorship from “PHOENIX DARTS.”
In 2022, you participated in the WDF Winmau World Masters and Open in the Netherlands. How was that experience? Also, how do WDF and PDC tournaments differ in your eyes?
The WDF Masters was enjoyable. Different throwing styles, rhythms, and a high level of play! It was a very meaningful tournament where I received many challenges for the future. PDC tournaments feature opponents who are all star players, making them the pinnacle of the world, in my opinion.
You’ve also represented your country twice in the PDC World Cup. How do you feel about playing as a representative of your country? Who would you like to play darts with in the PDC World Cup of Darts?
The PDC World Cup is also a lot of fun♪ I want to fully enjoy playing as a representative of Japan and ensure that everyone who supports me also has fun… That’s what I’m thinking♪ There are many countries I’d like to play against. In recent years, I’d love to play against Wales, Scotland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
In a few weeks, the final Asian Tour event will take place in China. You’re currently in 4th place. If you maintain your position, you’ll qualify for the PDC World Championship. How are you preparing for the last Asian Tour event? Are you extra nervous?
Finally, the last Asian Tour event in China♪ I’m adjusting as usual and aiming to have fun playing darts♪ I’m not feeling any special nervousness at the moment. I’m just focused on giving my best in my darts.
2024年におけるダーツに関する計画は何ですか？
これは今非常に考えている所です。
更なる挑戦を視野に入れ、
今後の状況を踏まえて決めて行きたいと思っております。
What are your plans for darts in 2024?
I’m currently thinking about this a lot. I’m considering further challenges and will decide based on the situation ahead.
いつかPDC Qスクールに参加して、ツアーカードを獲得しようと考えていますか？
もちろんQスクールの事は常に考えております。
戦ってみたいですね😊
Are you thinking about participating in the PDC Q School to earn a tour card?
Of course, I’m always thinking about Q School. I’d like to give it a try 😊
Apart from the World Championship Darts in London, which other tournament would you like to participate in?
This is a tough question… Probably another PDC tour event… The Senior Tour seems interesting too♪
ダーツでのあなたのインスピレーションは誰ですか？なぜその人がインスピレーションとなっていますか？
やはりダーツを始めた時に感じたフィル・テイラー氏でしょうか…
プロのダーツプレイヤーの全てがそこにあると思っております😊
Who inspires you in darts? Why are they an inspiration to you?
It would still be Phil Taylor, whom I felt inspired by when I first started playing darts… I believe all professional dart players have something special😊
Thank you for reading. I’m just a player from Japan, but I’m looking forward to the day I can meet all the world’s dart players. Please continue to support me along with my sponsors, “DYNASTY,” “Lstyle,” and “PHOENIX DARTS.” 🙇♂️
AsianDarts 