TEENAGER Xiaochen Zong will make his William Hill World Darts Championship debut in December after winning the Chinese Qualifier in Haikou.
Zong, who competed in the 2016 PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship and at the Shanghai Darts Masters earlier this year, defeated Yin Deng in the final of the qualifier in a deciding set to seal his Alexandra Palace place.
He had begun the final weekend of the Chinese season by reaching the final in Stage Five and Stage Six on the domestic circuit, twice being denied in a deciding leg as he lost 5-4 to Weihong Li and Chengan Liu.
However, he recovered to go all the way in the 32-player World Championship Qualifier, whitewashing Jin Chen, defeating Chenhao Li 6-2 and then enjoying a quarter-final win over Bin Zheng in straight sets before seeing off Di Zhuang 2-1 in the semi-finals.
Zong, who has suspended his university studies as he bids to making his dartnig breakthrough, travelled to the World Cup of Darts in June 2017 with the Chinese team and received coaching from former World Champion Bob Anderson.
He took on James Wade in July at the Shanghai Darts Masters, and will now join the other international qualifiers in the sport's biggest tournament at Alexandra Palace in December.
PDC China Stage Five
Quarter-Finals
Wenqing Liu 5-3 Yuanjun Liu
Xiaochen Zong 5-2 Di Zhuang
Yin Deng 5-3 Bin Xu
Weihong Li 5-2 Lihao Wen
Semi-Final
Xiaochen Zong 5-3 Wenqing Liu
Weihong Li 5-0 Yin Deng
Final
Weihong Li 5-4 Xiaochen Zong
PDC China Stage Six
Quarter-Finals
Chengan Liu 5-3 Weihong Li
Wenqing Liu 5-2 Di Zhuang
Xiaochen Zong 5-0 Lihao Wen
Bin Zheng 5-4 Yin Deng
Semi-Finals
Chengan Liu 5-3 Wenqing Liu
Xiaochen Zong 5-0 Bin Zheng
Final
Chengan Liu 5-4 Xiaochen Zong
World Championship Qualifier
First Round
Xiaochen Zong 6-0 Jin Chen
Chenhao Li 6-2 Nianyun Li
Bin Xu 6-1 Wenge Xie
Bin Zheng 6-3 Jianfeng Lu
Chengan Liu 6-0 Jin Xu
Yafei Qiao 6-1 Asu Chen
Xicheng Han 6-5 Qiang Sun
Di Zhuang 6-0 Yuanfan Yang
Wenqing Liu 6-0 Aihua Cai
Qiang Wei 6-0 Qilin Li
Yanlai Shi 6-0 Junying Chen
Lihao Wen 6-2 Jianhua Shen
Weihong Li 6-4 Hailong Chen
Lulu Zhang 6-0 Xianmi Lin
Yuanjun Liu 6-1 Hao Li
Yin Deng 6-2 Jinsong Lin
Second Round
Xiaochen Zong 6-2 Chenhao Li
Bin Zheng 6-2 Bin Xu
Chengan Liu 6-2 Yafei Qiao
Di Zhuang 6-5 Xicheng Han
Wenqing Liu 6-1 Qiang Wei
Lihao Wen 6-5 Yanlai Shi
Weihong Li 6-1 Lulu Zhang
Yin Deng 6-4 Yuanjun Liu
Quarter-Finals
Xiaochen Zong 2-0 Bin Zheng
Di Zhuang 2-0 Chengan Liu
Lihao Wen 2-0 Wenqing Liu
Yin Deng 2-0 Weihong Li
Semi-Finals
Xiaochen Zong 2-1 Di Zhuang
Yin Deng 2-1 Lihao Wen
Final
Xiaochen Zong 2-1 Yin Deng