World Grand Prix draw: Springer faces Noppert, Nebrida takes the Asian title & Adrian Lewis on his retirement

Darts news from 14 September 2026: World Grand Prix draw with Littler–Woodhouse and Springer–Noppert, Nebrida wins the Asian Championship, Lewis interview.

The key news of the day

A Monday without a big stage, but with plenty to talk about: the PDC today completed the draw for the BoyleSports World Grand Prix – defending champion Luke Littler opens against Luke Woodhouse, and Germany's only entrant Niko Springer takes on Danny Noppert. In China, Paolo Nebrida crowned himself Asian champion today and booked his ticket for the Alexandra Palace and the Grand Slam of Darts, while Kam Weng Cheng becomes the first player from Macau ever to reach the World Championship. The PDC also extended its partnership with the AFAS Live in Amsterdam for the World Series of Darts Finals, Adrian Lewis spoke openly about his retirement and a possible way back – and in the German camp, today's updated European Tour ranking is causing nerves for Martin Schindler.

World Grand Prix: Littler against Woodhouse, Humphries against Chisnall

The draw for the double-in-double-out major at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester was published today – and it has plenty in store. The top 16 of the PDC Order of Merit meet the 16 best players from the ProTour ranking who had not yet qualified. World champion and world number one Luke Littler, who won his first World Grand Prix title last year, starts against Luke Woodhouse, the winner of the Baltic Sea Darts Open. If Littler defends his title, he would be only the third player after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen to win the Grand Prix twice in a row – and he would keep alive his chance of sweeping every TV major this season.

The tie between second seed Luke Humphries and two-time finalist Dave Chisnall is seen as a real cracker. Just as spicy: Gary Anderson against Damon Heta and Wessel Nijman against former world champion Rob Cross. Michael van Gerwen, seeded ninth, faces Ryan Joyce. Dutchman Gian van Veen, who produced a record Average in Leicester a year ago and still lost to Littler, gets an all-Dutch duel against Dirk van Duijvenbode.

Luke Littler (1) – Luke Woodhouse
Luke Humphries (2) – Dave Chisnall
Gian van Veen (3) – Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gerwyn Price (4) – Sebastian Bialecki
Jonny Clayton (5) – Krzysztof Ratajski
James Wade (6) – Joe Cullen
Josh Rock (7) – Niels Zonneveld
Danny Noppert (8) – Niko Springer
Michael van Gerwen (9) – Ryan Joyce
Gary Anderson (10) – Damon Heta
Stephen Bunting (11) – Andrew Gilding
Wessel Nijman (12) – Rob Cross
Ross Smith (13) – Cameron Menzies
Ryan Searle (14) – William O'Connor
Chris Dobey (15) – Jermaine Wattimena
Nathan Aspinall (16) – Kevin Doets

Financially, the trip to Leicester is more worthwhile than ever: the winner collects 150,000 pounds. The format remains the tournament's special feature – every Leg has to be opened and closed with a Double, which has regularly produced early upsets in the past.

Darts in Germany

Niko Springer is the only German in the field in Leicester – and the “Meenzer Bub” earned his ticket through the ProTour ranking. In round one he faces eighth seed Danny Noppert, who has already reached the semi-finals twice at the World Grand Prix. The double-in format likes to level out differences, and Springer knows the stage from last season. If he clears that hurdle, round two would bring the winner of Michael van Gerwen against Ryan Joyce.

Painful, by contrast, is the entry list without Martin Schindler: Germany's number one is missing from the World Grand Prix because in the end neither the world ranking nor the ProTour standings were enough. And the European Tour Order of Merit updated today does not make the situation any more relaxed: Schindler slipped two places to 29th (34,500 pounds) and is therefore still inside the top 32 who qualify for the European Championship in Dortmund – but only two European Tour events in Basel and Maastricht remain to secure the home major. Springer is sitting comparatively comfortably in 25th with 42,000 pounds. Gabriel Clemens jumped 52 places to 76th (5,500 pounds) – a creditable result, but Dortmund remains out of reach for the “German Giant”. The ranking is led by Ross Smith (148,000 pounds) ahead of Wessel Nijman (116,000), Krzysztof Ratajski (84,500), Nathan Aspinall (82,000) and Luke Littler (75,000). James Wade climbed 22 positions to ninth (66,000 pounds) after his title at the Flanders Darts Trophy and has practically secured his European Championship ticket.

PDC Asian Championship: Nebrida takes the title, Cheng makes history

While Europe was still asleep, the PDC Asian Championship was played out today in Changjiang on the Chinese island of Hainan. Two World Championship places and one spot at the Grand Slam of Darts were on the line. In the end Filipino Paolo Nebrida came through, winning the final against Kam Weng Cheng from Macau clearly by 3:0. Nebrida can therefore play at the Alexandra Palace again and, on top of that, at the Grand Slam in Wolverhampton in November.

The road to the title was not an easy one: in an all-Filipino quarter-final Nebrida knocked out Christian Perez with an Average of 89.40, and in the semi-final he followed up with a 2:0 against Noel Malicdem, who had beaten Jenn Ming Tan before that. The real sensation of the tournament, though, is Cheng: in the quarter-final he dumped out the favoured Sonny Balagat – including a 144 Checkout – and in the semi-final he beat Japan's Ryusei Azemoto 2:1, closing out the deciding Set with a 14-darter. That means a player from Macau is in the World Championship field at the Alexandra Palace for the first time. Azemoto himself had been lucky in the quarter-final: his opponent Rolly Gabiana missed ten match darts. Defending champion Lourence Ilagan impressed in the group stage with two Averages beyond 101, but then went out as early as the last 32 – and so misses a World Championship for the first time since 2018.

World Series Finals stay in Amsterdam

A few days before the start of the World Series of Darts Finals, the PDC today settled the future of the season finale: the partnership with the AFAS Live in Amsterdam is being extended; the previous contract would have expired after this year's edition. The Finals will therefore also be played in the Dutch capital in 2027; the PDC did not name the exact length of the extension, but spoke of a “close, long-standing relationship that we want to continue for many years to come”. The event has been held at the AFAS Live every year since 2021, with Michael van Gerwen the defending champion and record winner. For the Dutch darts scene the news is an important signal. In Amsterdam there is 450,000 pounds in prize money at stake, 100,000 of it for the winner; alongside van Gerwen the field includes Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gian van Veen, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Stephen Bunting and James Wade – there is no German player involved.

Story of the day: Adrian Lewis and the question “What am I doing here?”

Twice world champion, then his withdrawal from the tour in 2023 – and today Adrian Lewis talks to Oche180 more openly than he has in a long time about his reasons. The 41-year-old pointed to his family situation: his wife lives with an incurable kidney disease and has to go into hospital regularly, his daughter has ADHD and autism among other things and needs intensive care. Being on the road five to six days a week was not compatible with that everyday life. The line that sticks: “Sometimes you think: what am I actually doing here?”

The professional darts chapter is not completely over, though. “I'm working a bit again at the moment and trying to build myself back up step by step,” said Lewis, who plays a lot of exhibitions and corporate events and says he has good and bad practice days. He rules out an immediate return via Q-School: “I don't want that this time.” His plan: “I'd rather build myself back up, play the Challenge Tour and work my way back into competition that way.” First find the joy in competing again, then decide whether the big stage should happen once more – so the door is left slightly ajar.

MODUS Super Series: Evans and Leung set the tone in Group A

Week seven of the MODUS Super Series has begun, and two players pulled clear in Group A on day one: David Evans and Liverpool-based Hongkonger Kai Fan Leung each took four wins from five matches. Evans won all four of his matches 4:1 – against van de Pas, Leung, Cooper and Chrysospathis – and lost only his opening tie against Richie Howson, narrowly, 3:4. Leung came through 4:2 against Howson and 4:3 against Benito van de Pas, among others. Howson stands on three wins, although the 0:4 against van de Pas in the last match of the day was a setback. Van de Pas (two wins), Panagiotis Chrysospathis and Henry Cooper (one win each) have to step it up on day two.

Howson 4:3 Evans · van de Pas 4:3 Cooper · Chrysospathis 3:4 Leung
Evans 4:1 van de Pas · Leung 4:2 Howson · Cooper 4:1 Chrysospathis
Evans 4:1 Leung · van de Pas 2:4 Chrysospathis · Howson 4:1 Cooper
Leung 4:3 van de Pas · Cooper 1:4 Evans · Chrysospathis 1:4 Howson
Cooper 1:4 Leung · Howson 0:4 van de Pas · Evans 4:1 Chrysospathis

Briefly noted

Gerwyn Price fancies a different kind of ring once more: under an Instagram post by Misfits Boxing about the latest win of influencer boxer Jack Kay (“Ibiza Final Boss”), the Welshman commented “Sign me up” along with a boxing glove emoji. The 2021 world champion had already put himself forward for a fight against Jake Paul before – whether anything more comes of the comment is open.

What's on tomorrow

On Tuesday the MODUS Super Series continues with day two of Group A – from 10:30 German time on the Pluto TV stream, with the long-distance duel between Evans and Leung for top spot and Howson, van de Pas, Chrysospathis and Cooper fighting to close the gap. The PDC stage stays quiet tomorrow before the World Series of Darts Finals get under way in Amsterdam.