Lourence Ilagan boosted his hopes of qualifying for the 2025/26 Paddy Power World Darts Championship by claiming a brace of PDC Asian Tour titles in the Philippines last weekend.
Ilagan came into the year’s penultimate weekend of Asian Tour action outside of the provisional World Championship qualification places, but he’s now catapulted himself up to third position following a string of fine displays on home soil.
The 47-year-old celebrated Event 21 and Event 23 success across a captivating two days of competition in Manila, as Ryusei Azemoto and Alexis Toylo also claimed a title apiece.
However, the headlines belonged to Ilagan, who kicked off the weekend with a 5-2 victory over former PDC Asian Champion Christian Perez in their Event 21 decider.
Ilagan saw off four of his fellow countrymen on his way to the title, although he produced his best performance of the day in his first round thrashing of Pin Feng Yeh, averaging north of 101.
Japanese star Azemoto then later boosted his hopes of an immediate return to Alexandra Palace with an emphatic 5-2 win over Toylo in their Event 22 showdown.
The 33-year-old conceded just seven legs in as many matches to clinch his second Asian Tour title of the year, and his sixth since the start of 2024.
Azemoto sealed the deal with a comprehensive victory over Toylo, rattling off four legs without reply to extend his title tally.
This was preceded by a five-leg blitz of Hong Kong’s World Cup star Lok Yin Lee, following on from his deciding-leg victory over Russelle Mark Canapi in the quarter-finals.
Sunday's double-header began with Ilagan returning to winning ways, courtesy of a superb whitewash victory against Takayuki Masatsu.
The Filipino stalwart converted 110, 85 and 78 combinations during a clinical display, after dumping out former World Championship qualifiers Reynaldo Rivera and Noel Malicdem earlier in the event.
Toylo then rounded off the weekend’s play with victory in Event 24, after coming out on top in a gruelling affair against Sonny Balagat.
Toylo had earlier survived match darts against Japan’s Ryuta Arihara, before defeating Tengku Shah in a topsy-turvy tussle to confirm his World Championship qualification for a second straight year.
However, Singapore’s darting icon Paul Lim produced the two highest averages of the event, averaging 104.83 in his opening round drubbing of Tito Jr. Dimanarig, while averaging close to 101 in his last eight defeat to Shah.
Lim remains on course to make yet another Alexandra Palace appearance at the age of 71, with just four Asian Tour events remaining before the qualification cut-off.
The top five players on the PDC Asian Tour rankings following the conclusion of Events 25-28 in Qingdao will qualify for this year’s World Championship, which will see £1m in prize money on offer.
Toylo occupies top spot on the Asian Tour Order of Merit ahead of Japan’s Motomu Sakai, with Ilagan in third position, Lim in fourth, and Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung making up the top five.
Coverage from Events 25-28 will be shown on PDCTV from the last 16 onwards, as the biggest names in the Asian game set their sights on big stage silverware.
2025 PDC Asian Tour
August 2-3, Manila, Philippines
Event 21
Quarter-Finals
Christian Perez 4-1 Christian De Los Reyes
Russelle Mark Canapi 4-3 Paul Lim
Lourence Ilagan 4-2 Aris Quijano
Sonny Balagat 4-1 Louis Enrik Nazarene Lopez
Semi-Finals
Christian Perez 5-1 Russelle Mark Canapi
Lourence Ilagan 5-1 Sonny Balagat
Final
Lourence Ilagan 5-2 Christian Perez
Event 22
Quarter-Finals
Alexis Toylo 4-0 Christian De Los Reyes
Motomu Sakai 4-2 John Louie Curacha
Lok Yin Lee 4-1 Rodolfo Escharos Jr.
Ryusei Azemoto 4-3 Russelle Mark Canapi
Semi-Finals
Alexis Toylo 5-3 Motomu Sakai
Ryusei Azemoto 5-0 Lok Yin Lee
Final
Ryusei Azemoto 5-2 Alexis Toylo
Event 23
Quarter-Finals
Lourence Ilagan 4-0 Rodel Villa
Noel Malicdem 4-0 Herbert Dalayday
Christian De Los Reyes 4-2 Manny Santos
Takayuki Masatsu 4-3 Paul Lim
Semi-Finals
Lourence Ilagan 5-2 Noel Malicdem
Takayuki Masatsu 5-2 Christian De Los Reyes
Final
Lourence Ilagan 5-0 Takayuki Masatsu
Event 24
Quarter-Finals
Paolo Nebrida 4-0 John Ericson Flores
Sonny Balagat 4-1 Christian Perez
Alexis Toylo 4-3 Ryuta Arihara
Tengku Shah 4-3 Paul Lim
Semi-Finals
Sonny Balagat 5-2 Paolo Nebrida
Alexis Toylo 5-3 Tengku Shah
Final
Alexis Toylo 5-4 Sonny Balagat