Peter Wright will begin his defence of the Cazoo World Darts Championship against either Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb, after the draw for the sport’s showpiece event was made on Monday.
Wright claimed his second World Championship crown at Alexandra Palace 12 months ago, producing an inspired comeback to topple Michael Smith and repeat his 2020 exploits.
The second seed will face either Northern Ireland’s Mansell or New Zealand’s number one Robb in his opening assignment, as he aims to become the first Scottish player to secure a hat-trick of world titles.
The draw, which was made by Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster live on Sky Sports News on Monday, sees the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit seeded through to round two.
Meanwhile, the first round action will see the ProTour Order of Merit Qualifiers up against the Qualifiers & International Representatives, as they battle for the right to take on the seeded stars.
Top seed Gerwyn Price will play the winner of the first round clash between Luke Woodhouse and Vladyslav Omelchenko, who is making history as the first Ukrainian player to feature at the World Darts Championship.
Three-time champion Michael van Gerwen could begin his bid for a fourth Sid Waddell Trophy with an all-Dutch tie against Niels Zonneveld, who will play Welsh youngster Lewy Williams in round one.
Newly crowned Grand Slam champion Michael Smith will face a tough test against a resurgent Jermaine Wattimena or Northern Irish debutant Nathan Rafferty, who collide in a stand-out first round tie.
Beau Greaves – the youngest woman to compete at the World Darts Championship – will face William O’Connor on her Alexandra Palace debut, for the right to play Germany’s number one Gabriel Clemens.
Fallon Sherrock will take on Ricky Evans, as she return to the stage where she became the first woman to beat a man at a World Championship three years ago, and the winner of that tie will meet Masters champion Joe Cullen in round two.
Four-time Women’s World Champion Lisa Ashton has been pitted against Suffolk star Ryan Meikle in her opener, and the winner will progress to a second round showdown against five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld.
Former World Champion Rob Cross – a runner-up at last weekend’s Players Championship Finals – faces a difficult assignment against either debutant Scott Williams or Tour Card Holder Qualifier Ryan Joyce.
Two-time World Champion Gary Anderson will play Madars Razma or Prakash Jiwa for a place in round three, while seventh seed Jonny Clayton meets Danny van Trijp or Steve Beaton, who is making his 32nd consecutive World Championship appearance.
Elsewhere, Australia’s World Cup winner Damon Heta could face two-time World Champion Adrian Lewis, if the Stoke-on-Trent star comes through his first round tie against Sweden’s Daniel Larsson.
Meanwhile, Heta’s World Cup partner Simon Whitlock will play PDC Asian Championship winner Christian Perez for the right to take on Jose de Sousa in a blockbuster second round tussle.
Fifth seed Luke Humphries kicks off his campaign against either Keegan Brown or Florian Hempel, while World Youth Champion Josh Rock plays Spain’s Jose Justicia, with last year’s quarter-finalist Callan Rydz awaiting the winner.
The tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland based subscribers).
2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship
Draw Bracket – Second Round Onwards
(1) Gerwyn Price v Luke Woodhouse/Vladyslav Omelchenko
(32) Raymond van Barneveld v Ryan Meikle/Lisa Ashton
(16) Ryan Searle v Adam Gawlas/Richie Burnett
(17) Jose de Sousa v Simon Whitlock/Christian Perez
(8) James Wade v Jim Williams/Sebastian Bialecki
(25) Gabriel Clemens v William O’Connor/Beau Greaves
(9) Danny Noppert v Ritchie Edhouse/David Cameron
(24) Daryl Gurney v Alan Soutar/Mal Cuming
(4) Michael Smith v Jermaine Wattimena/Nathan Rafferty
(29) Martin Schindler v Martin Lukeman/Nobuhiro Yamamoto
(13) Joe Cullen v Ricky/Evans/Fallon Sherrock
(20) Damon Heta v Adrian Lewis/Daniel Larsson
(5) Luke Humphries v Keegan Brown/Florian Hempel
(28) Vincent van der Voort v Cameron Menzies/Diogo Portela
(12) Dave Chisnall v Andrew Gilding/Robert Owen
(21) Stephen Bunting v Geert Nentjes/Leonard Gates
(2) Peter Wright v Mickey Mansell/Ben Robb
(31) Kim Huybrechts v Keane Barry/Grant Sampson
(15) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Lourence Ilagan
(18) Krzysztof Ratajski v Danny Jansen/Paolo Nebrida
(7) Jonny Clayton v Steve Beaton/Danny van Trijp
(26) Brendan Dolan v Jamie Hughes/Jimmy Hendriks
(10) Nathan Aspinall v Boris Krcmar/Toru Suzuki
(23) Callan Rydz v Josh Rock/Jose Justicia
(3) Michael van Gerwen v Niels Zonneveld/Lewy Williams
(30) Mensur Suljovic v Mike De Decker/Jeff Smith
(14) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Karel Sedlacek/Raymond Smith
(19) Ross Smith v John O’Shea/Darius Labanauskas
(6) Rob Cross v Scott Williams/Ryan Joyce
(27) Mervyn King v Matt Campbell/Danny Baggish
(11) Gary Anderson v Madars Razma/Prakash Jiwa
(22) Chris Dobey v Martijn Kleermaker/Xicheng Han
The schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.
—-ENDS—-
Images: PDC
