Haruki Muramatsu

**Haruki Muramatsu** (born 15 April 1977) is a Japanese professional soft-tip and steel-tip darts player who plays in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and other international events. He has competed fifth time at the PDC World Darts Championship and represented his country at the PDC World Cup of Darts and Grand Slam of Darts.

## Career

Muramatsu qualified for the 2010 PDC World Darts Championship. He defeated Krzysztof Kciuk in the preliminary round, but lost to Ronnie Baxter in the first round match. Two years ago he qualified for the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, where he beat Dennis Nilsson in the preliminary round to advanced for the second round where he played against Phil Taylor. Muramatsu represented Japan with Morihiro Hashimoto in the 2012 PDC World Cup of Darts and together they were beaten by Sweden in the first round match.

Muramatsu qualified for 2013 PDC World Darts Championship by winning the Japan Qualifying event. He played Dave Harrington in the preliminary round, winning 4–0 to set up a first round match against Simon Whitlock which he lost 0–3. He played in the 2013 PDC World Cup of Darts and first time with Sho Katsumi and they advanced from Group A thanks to a 5–4 win over Austria. They then defeated the Ireland to face the top seeds of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis in the quarter-finals. Muramatsu lost to Taylor by 1–4, but Katsumi defeated Lewis meaning that a doubles match was required to settle the tie. Japan led 2–0, but went on to lose 4–2. He was edged out 6–5 by Morihiro Hashimoto in the final of the Japanese qualifier for the 2014 World Championship.

In June 2014, Muramatsu and Morihiro Hashimoto watched as Canada team missed seven darts for the match in the first round of the 2014 PDC World Cup of Darts to step in and steal a 5–4 win. In the second round they both lost their singles matches against the Northern Irish partnering of Brendan Dolan and Michael Mansell to exit the tournament. A week later he won the French Soft Tip Darts Live event by beating Shaun Narain in the final match.

Muramatsu qualified for the 2015 PDC World Darts Championship by defeating Masumi Chino in the Japanese Qualifier. He lost to Boris Koltsov in the preliminary round. Muramatsu entered PDC Q-School and was knocked out in the last 16 on two of four days which helped him finish inside the top 18 on the Order of Merit who earn two-year PDC Tour Card. After whitewashing China, Muramatsu and Morihiro Hashimoto were knocked out of the 2015 PDC World Cup of Darts in the second round for the second year in a row this time to the top seeds England. Muramatsu competed in the inaugural 2015 Japan Darts Masters and was eliminated by Peter Wright in the opening round.

Muramatsu played in nine 2016 PDC Pro Tour events in 2016, but did not win a match in any of them. He was knocked out in the semi-finals of the Japan Open. He partnered Keita Ono at the 2016 PDC World Cup of Darts for the first time and they lost 2–5 to Northern Ireland in the opening round. Muramatsu was eliminated at the same stage a 2017 PDC World Cup of Darts with new partner Yuki Yamada after losing 3–5 to Spain.

After a long break, Muramatsu was successful for the first time on the 2023 PDC Asian Tour series at the beginning of March. He qualified for the 2023 PDC Asian Championship in October and was ultimately able to secure the title there, which meant another participation in the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship and qualification for the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts for the first time. There he lost all three of his group games against Danny Noppert, Andrew Gilding and Brendan Dolan. At the World Championship, he tried a comeback attempt against Scott Williams, but he was unsuccessful and again lost in the first round match.

## World Championship results

### PDC

* 2010: First round (lost to Ronnie Baxter 0–3)
* 2012: First round (lost to Phil Taylor 0–3)
* 2013: First round (lost to Simon Whitlock 0–3)
* 2015: Preliminary round (lost to Boris Koltsov 2–4)
* 2024: First round (lost to Scott Williams 1–3)