When Christmas comes it can only mean one thing, the return of tungsten drama to the Alexandra Palace with the greatest darting party only around the corner.
Reigning world champion Peter Wright will face either Northern Ireland international Micky Mansell who has appeared numerous times on the world stage, or New Zealand international Ben Robb.
The favourite for the Sid Waddell trophy must be Michael van Gerwen, with a Premier League, World Matchplay, Grand Prix and recently the Players Championship Finals added in 2022 to an already growing honours list.
Bookmakers have made him the favourite to win his fourth World title and after what he’s already achieved, can you back against the Green Machine?
MVG will face either compatriot Niels Zonneveld or Welsh youngster Lewy Williams who made it through his First-Round match on debut twelve months ago.
Winmau man van Gerwen withdrew from last year’s competition due to a positive COVID Test, with Dave Chisnall and Vincent van der Voort also suffering from the same fate.
One of the interesting draws to have come out the hat is recent World Youth champion Josh Rock who will face Spaniard Jose Justicia making his debut on the World Stage in a couple weeks’ time.
The young Northern Irishman who hit a nine darter at the recent Grand Slam of Darts, could face Callan Rydz in the Second Round if he makes it through the tie with his Spanish opponent. The Riot reached the Quarter Finals in the capital last year losing to eventual champion Peter Wright 5-4 in what was a classic.
WDF Ladies Champion Beau Greaves will get her first taste of the Alexandra Palace atmosphere, having qualified for the competition through the Women’s Series despite missing the first 12 events. Beau ‘n’ Arrow claimed eight successive Women’s Series Titles to book her spot as part of the 96-player field, with a draw against William O’Connor in the First Round.
The Magpie has appeared on the world stage on numerous occasions but will know of the threat of his young opponent after she found the highest average of any player on Final’s Day at Lakeside back in April. The winner will move onto the Second Round where Gabriel Clemens will await, could the Doncaster young sensation become the second female winner at the PDC Worlds?
Rowby-John Rodriguez after his successful debut at the World Matchplay a few months ago, will return to the Ally Pally and could set up a classic Second Round clash. Little John if he makes it past Lourence Ilagen could face former World Matchplay champion Dimitri van den Bergh in the Last 64, as the Belgian comes into the tournament as the 15th seed from being 5th last year.
The Cazoo World Darts Championship kicks off on the 15th of December with the schedule of play still to be announced later down the line. 17 days to go until the great darting party once again returns to our screens, as the tungsten drama and fancy dress returns to North London.
Cazoo World Darts Championship 2023 Draw:
Gerwyn Price (1) v Luke Woodhouse/ Vladyslav Omelchenko
Raymond van Barneveld (32) v Ryan Meikle/ Lisa Ashton
Ryan Searle (16) v Adam Gawlas/ Richie Burnett
Jose de Sousa (17) v Simon Whitlock/ Christian Perez
James Wade (8) v Jim Williams/ Sebastian Bialecki
Gabriel Clemens (25) v William O’Connor/ Beau Greaves
Danny Noppert (9) v Ritchie Edhouse/ David Cameron
Daryl Gurney (24) v Alan Soutar/ Mal Cuming
Michael Smith (4) v Jermaine Wattimena/ Nathan Rafferty
Martin Schindler (29) v Martin Lukeman/ Nobuhiro Yamamoto
Joe Cullen (13) v Ricky Evans/ Fallon Sherrock
Damon Heta (20) v Adrian Lewis/ Daniel Larsson
Luke Humphries (5) v Keegan Brown/ Florian Hempel
Vincent van der Voort (28) v Cameron Menzies/ Diogo Portela
Dave Chisnall (12) v Andrew Gilding/ Robert Owen
Stephen Bunting (21) v Geert Nentjes/ Leonard Gates
Peter Wright (2) v Micky Mansell/ Ben Robb
Kim Huybrechts (31) v Keane Barry/ Grant Sampson
Dimitri van den Bergh (15) v Rowby-John Rodriguez/ Lourence Ilagen
Krzysztof Ratajski (18) v Danny Jansen/ Paolo Nebrida
Jonny Clayton (7) v Steve Beaton/ Danny van Trijp
Brendan Dolan (26) v Jamie Hughes/ Jimmy Hendriks
Nathan Aspinall (10) v Boris Krcmar/ Toru Suzuki
Callan Rydz (23) v Josh Rock/ Jose Justicia
Michael van Gerwen (3) v Niels Zonneveld/ Lewy Williams
Mensur Suljovic (30) v Mike de Decker/ Jeff Smith
Dirk van Duijvenbode (14) v Karol Sedlacek/ Raymond Smith
Ross Smith (19) v John O’Shea/ Darius Labanauskas
Rob Cross (6) v Scott Williams/ Ryan Joyce
Mervyn King (27) v Matt Campbell/ Danny Baggish
Gary Anderson (11) v Madars Razma/ Prakash Jiwa
Chris Dobey (22) v Martijn Kleermaker/ Xicheng Han
—–ENDS—-
Images: Main – WDF/ Chris Sargeant
In text images: PDC
