Ryusei Azemoto narrowly missed out on qualification for the World Darts Championship in painful fashion, falling one title short of overhauling Motomu Sakai for top spot on the Steel Tour Japan 2026 rankings. The 30-year-old Japanese player won three consecutive tournaments during the finale and put together a superb winning run, but ultimately came up short.
Ahead of the final four events, Azemoto's task was clear and brutally tough: he had to win all four titles to leapfrog compatriot Sakai and force a return to Alexandra Palace. Sakai himself was absent from the finale in Kanagawa after competing at the World Series of Darts Finals last weekend, with his Worlds berth already secured thanks to his second place on the PDC Asian Tour.
Even so, Azemoto turned it into a compelling chase. He launched his charge by taking Event 9, edging Taiga Ajiki in a deciding leg in the semi-finals before beating Hiroki Kaneko 5-3 in the final. A second title followed later the same day in Event 10, where he trailed Shunta Takayama 4-3 in the semi-finals but a 13-darter and a 103 checkout turned the match around. In the final, Atsushi Takeuchi led 4-2 and had multiple match darts in leg seven, but Azemoto survived those chances and battled through to the title. Event 11 also fell to the Tokyo thrower, who extended his winning run to eighteen matches, surviving two more last-leg deciders along the way before beating PDC Asian Tour champion Ryuta Arihara 5-3 in the final.
That left Azemoto with three of the four required titles and his remarkable escape route to the Worlds still alive. At Event 12, he initially maintained his outstanding form, dropping only seven legs across his first five matches as his streak reached 23 matches. It all came down to the final against Yuta Hayashi, where only a fourth straight tournament win would be enough to dislodge Sakai from first place. This time the deficit proved too great. Azemoto fell 3-0 behind and later 4-2, and where he had repeatedly mounted comebacks in previous events, it wouldn't come off at the crucial moment. Hayashi won the final 5-3, halting Azemoto's impressive run.
As a result, Sakai finished top of the Steel Tour Japan 2026 rankings and claimed the associated World Championship qualifying spot. Azemoto, who made his second Worlds appearance last December, missed out on a return to Alexandra Palace despite three titles on the spin. The outcome also brings good news for Man Lok Leung. Because Sakai takes his Worlds ticket via the Steel Tour Japan, his Asian Tour qualification place rolls down to the highest-ranked player not yet qualified — that is Leung. The Hong Kong thrower, who previously reached the World Cup of Darts quarter-finals with his country and produced an upset at the 2023/24 Worlds by beating Gian van Veen, will now make his third World Championship appearance in December.