Aspinall withdraws from PC 33 and 34 and misses Minehead – Wen seals his World Championship ticket in Nanjing
Darts news for 2 November 2026: Nathan Aspinall withdraws from PC 33 and 34 and misses the Players Championship Finals, Lihao Wen wins the China Championship.
Nathan Aspinall has withdrawn his entry for Players Championships 33 and 34 in Leicester and will therefore miss the Players Championship Finals in Minehead. The Englishman, who reached the final of the season finale last year, can no longer make the top 64 of the Players Championship Order of Merit without further appearances. In Nanjing, Lihao Wen won the PDC China Championship and with it secured his first World Championship spot.
Aspinall skips Leicester
No reason for the withdrawal has been made public, and there is so far no official statement from the PDC. On the sporting side the situation is clear: Aspinall sits on £26,500 in prize money on the Players Championship Order of Merit, around £5,250 behind the current qualifying cut-off of £31,750. He can no longer add to that, because the two tournaments in Leicester are the last qualifying opportunities of this season. The top 64 players in that ranking qualify for the Players Championship Finals in Minehead at the end of November. Aspinall reached the final there last year and lost 8-11 to Luke Littler.
Aspinall is not the only big name who will be missing in Minehead. Littler himself had already pulled out of PC 33 and PC 34 and given up his title defence – we have written up the background here.
For others it stays tight: Gerwyn Price is 58th with £34,000, Gary Anderson 68th with £29,750, Josh Rock 80th with £26,000 and Raymond van Barneveld 81st with £25,750. These are interim standings. The cut-off shifts with every pound won in Leicester, and the field is only settled after the two tournaments.
The PDC continues the ProTour on Wednesday. Players Championship 33 (PC 33) starts at 2pm CET at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, Players Championship 34 follows on Thursday at the same time. Both tournaments are floor events with 128 entrants, played without spectators on site, with selected boards shown on PDCTV.
Wen wins the China Championship
Lihao Wen has won the PDC China Championship in Nanjing and has qualified for the World Championship at Alexandra Palace for the first time. In the final he beat defending champion Xiaochen Zong 3-0 in sets; Zong misses out on a seventh World Championship appearance. Wen had earlier beaten Pengyu Sun in the quarter-finals and Yuanjun Liu in the semi-finals. After Zong, he is only the second player to win this tournament. Several international World Championship places are still open, among them the one for players from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Darts in Germany: Knossi and van Gerwen team up again
ProSieben has announced the Promi-Darts-WM 2027. The show airs two days after the World Championship final in London from 20:15, live on TV and on Joyn. Jens Knossalla, better known as Knossi, again forms a team with Michael van Gerwen. The two reached the semi-finals together in 2024. Knossi is quoted in the announcement as saying: "This time we're taking the thing home."
As in previous years it is played in 501 format, with one pro and one celebrity amateur forming a team. Christian Düren presents, Elmar Paulke commentates. The Tuesday slot is new, and so is the venue: for the first time the show comes from a television studio in Cologne-Mülheim. The Promi-Darts-WM is not a ranking tournament, but for the visibility of the sport on German television it is one of the biggest-reach dates of the year.
Polly James on Price and the booing
British darts presenter Polly James has, in comments published today, assessed the role of Gerwyn Price as the fans' pantomime villain. Price has repeatedly said the booing spurred him on. In James's view he never actually enjoyed it, but looked for a way to deal with it: that was "just his way" of handling it. She puts the change in mood down to the Welshman's openness; he plays considerably better when the crowd is behind him. This is her assessment, not a statement by the player, who recently cancelled all non-PDC appearances.
ADC Global Championship: results from Portsmouth
At the MODUS Live Lounge in Portsmouth the last 128 round of the ADC Global Championship continued. It is played as best of 9 legs. Lewis Gurney lost heavily to Marc Vleghert, Dean Fitch and Stephen Cake each went out only in the deciding leg. The full write-up is in our coverage of the tournament.
A selection of the day's results:
- Lorenzo Pronk 5-1 Shane Turner
- Jeffrey Keen 5-1 Charles Winspear
- Marc Vleghert 5-1 Lewis Gurney
- Danny van Trijp 5-4 Dean Fitch
- Kevin Lankhuizen 5-4 Stephen Cake
- Lewis Pride 5-2 Donny Boerman
- Forde 5-3 Janssens
- Cressey 5-2 McCaughern
MODUS Super Series: Self looks ahead to the Ally Pally
Archie Self, winner of the Season 15 Champions Week, has spoken at length for the first time about his upcoming World Championship debut. The 16-year-old, who earned his place via the Challenge Tour, said he is hugely looking forward to the Ally Pally and was amazed to hear that he is near the top of the betting odds there.
What's on tomorrow
On Tuesday the ADC Global Championship in Portsmouth continues with more matches in the last 128 round. There is no PDC tournament on the calendar tomorrow; the ProTour only resumes on Wednesday with Players Championship 33 in Leicester.