Zong Xiao Chen

In this Chinese name, the family name is Zong (宗).

Zong Xiao Chen
Personal information
Full name	Xiaochen Zong
Nickname	"The Pandaman"
Born	(1998-03-08) 8 March 1998 (age 26)[1] Dandong, Liaoning Province, China
Home town	Dandong, China
Darts information
Playing darts since	2012
Darts	24g Mission The Pandaman
Laterality	Right-handed
Walk-on music	"Sold Out" by Hawk Nelson
Organisation (see split in darts)
PDC	2016–
Current world ranking	145 (3 January 2025)[2]
PDC premier events – best performances
World Ch'ship	Last 72: 2018
Other tournament wins
PDC Asian Tour 2023 (x2) PDC Chinese Qualifier 2017 PDC China Premier League 2022, 2023 (x2), 2024 PDC China Championship 2024

Zong Xiao Chen (Chinese: 宗笑尘; born 8 March 1998) is a Chinese professional darts player from Dandong who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. He is the first winner of the China Premier League. He has represented China three times at the PDC World Darts Championship.

Career

Zong played in the 2017 Shanghai Darts Masters, where he lost 0–6 to James Wade, and later in the year, he won the Chinese Qualifier competition to qualify for the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship. He played against Bernie Smith of New Zealand in the preliminary round, but even though he lost by 0–2 in sets, he set a new national record average of 86.97 in the match.

In the middle of the year, he represented his country with Momo Zhou at the 2018 PDC World Cup of Darts. After a close match, albeit at a low level, China fell in the first round match against Switzerland (Alex Fehlmann and Andy Bless) 2–5 in legs. Later that year, he played in the 2018 Shanghai Darts Masters, where he lost 0–6 to Michael Smith. In November, he competed again in the Chinese Qualifier for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship, but lost in the qualifying final 2–5 in legs to lower-seeded Yuanjun Liu. Two weeks later, he appeared in his 2018 PDC World Youth Championship, where he was eliminated in the group-stage by Rhys Griffin. Throughout the season, he took part in individual PDC Asian Tour and PDC Development Tour tournaments, but without big success.

In 2019, once again had the opportunity to represent China at the 2019 PDC World Cup of Darts. This time his partner was Yuanjun Liu. The Chinese team was knocked out again in the first round, this time losing to the United States team (Darin Young and Chuck Puleo) 1–5 in legs. In October, he took part in next Chinese qualifying tournament for the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship. In November, he played in the PDC Development Tour competitions and 2019 PDC World Youth Championship, where he was eliminated in the group-stage by Luke Humphries. His rival in the first round of the 2020 PDC World Darts Championship was Kyle Anderson, with whom he lost 2–3 in sets.

The coronavirus pandemic significantly slowed down his career, but he devoted this time to developing his skills. In 2022, was one of the players invited to participate in the PDC China Premier League. He won seven of nine regular matchdays, being unbeaten for 21 matches, finishes the regular phase as leader and he eventually beat all rivals in the final play-offs.^[3] Zong beat Zheng Bin 5-0 in the final of the ninth matchday with an impressive average of 101.55, which is new national record average.^[4] Despite winning the tournament, Zong did not travel to the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship as he could not be vaccinated against coronavirus due to allergies, meaning he was unable to compete outside China.^[5]

World Championship results

PDC

• 2018: Preliminary round (lost to Bernie Smith 0–2) (sets)
• 2020: First round (lost to Kyle Anderson 2–3)
• 2024: First round (lost to Mickey Mansell 0–3)
• 2025: First round (lost to Ricardo Pietreczko 0–3)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
PDC Ranked televised events
World Championship	DNQ		PR	DNQ	1R	DNQ		WD	1R	1R
PDC Non-ranked televised events
World Cup of Darts	DNP		1R	1R	DNP			RR	RR
World Youth Championship	2R	DNP	RR	RR	DNP

References

1. "Xiao-Chen Zong - Mastercaller.com". Mastercaller. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
2. "PDC Order of Merit". PDPA. 3 January 2025. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
3. "Dominant Zong claims PDC China Premier League glory". PDC. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
4. "Zong seals seventh Chinese Premier League win of the season as play-offs set up". dartsnews.com. September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
5. "Xicheng Han set for PDC World Darts Championship debut despite qualifier defeat as Xiaochen Zong denied spot due to vaccination issues". dartsnews.com. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

External links

• Player profile for Zong Xiao Chen from Dartsdatabase