Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld will begin their PDC World Cup of Darts title defence against Gibraltar, whilst a new-look England side will take on Czech Republic in the opening round.
The annual pairs tournament will take place from May 31st-June 3rd at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, as 32 nations go head-to-head in the £300,000 tournament, which will be televised live on Sky Sports.
Defending champions Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld will be bidding to secure a fourth World Cup title for Netherlands, drawing them level with England’s record tally. However, the third seeds will begin their title tilt against the Gibraltar pairing of Dyson Parody and Justin Broton.
Dave Chisnall makes his second consecutive World Cup appearance for England and he will be partnered by world champion Rob Cross, who is making his debut in the competition. The second seeds have been pitted against Czech Republic’s Roman Benecky & Karel Sedlacek in the first-round.
Top seeds Scotland will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s shock opening-round defeat when they take on the experienced American duo of Larry Butler and Darin Young. Wright and Anderson were dumped out on the opening night by Singapore twelve months ago, but they’ll be hoping to replicate their run to the final from 2015.
Fourth seeds Australia kick off their campaign against Hong Kong’s Royden Lam & Ho Yin Shek, whilst last year’s finalists Wales- comprised of Gerwyn Price and debutant Jonny Clayton, face Thailand, who are represented by Thanawat Gaweenuntavong & Attapol Eupakaree.
World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney leads Northern Ireland’s charge alongside Brendan Dolan, but the sixth seeds have been handed a potential banana skin against the capable Polish pairing of Krzysztof Ratajski & Tytus Kanik- both of whom have impressed in their debut seasons on the Pro Tour circuit.
World Youth Champion Dimitri van den Bergh will make his World Cup debut alongside Kim Huybrechts for seventh seeds Belgium, finalists in 2013. However, they also face a difficult opening-round assessment against the Irish duo of Steve Lennon & William O’Connor.
Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljovic and debutant Zoran Lerchbacher form Austria’s pairing as they collide with Japan’s soft-tip stars Seigo Asada and Haruki Muramatsu, whilst host-nation Germany- represented by Max Hopp and Martin Schindler, take on a Swedish side consisting of Daniel Larsson & Dennis Nilsson.
Singapore’s pairing of Paul Lim and Harith Lim, who stunned top seeds Scotland last year en route to reaching the quarter-finals, will take on New Zealand’s team of Cody Harris & Warren Parry. Meanwhile, Russian duo Boris Koltsov & Aleksandr Oreshkin will take on former semi-finalists Spain, represented by Cristo Reyes and Toni Alcinas.
Three-time world champion John Part captains Canada once again, alongside emerging star Dawson Murschell- making his debut in the competition. Canada take on Italy for a place in round-two, with the Italian’s line-up comprised of Michel Furlani & Alessio Medaina.
Former quarter-finalists South Africa, led by Devon Petersen and Liam O’Brien, will take on Hungary’s pairing of Tamas Alexits & Nandor Bezzeg, whilst Greece’s John Michael and Veniamin Symeonidis lock horns with the experienced Finland duo Kim Viljanen & Marko Kantele.
Diogo Portela returns to captain Brazil alongside Bruno Rangel, and the Samba stars meet Denmark’s Per Laursen & Henrik Primdal in round-one. Finally, China’s Momo Zhou will become only the second ever woman to compete at the World Cup, as she and Xiaochen Zong take on Switzerland’s Alexander Fehlmann & Andreas Bless.
Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC
Draw Bracket
(1) Scotland v United States of America
Denmark v Brazil
(8) Austria v Japan
Italy v Canada
(5) Wales v Thailand
Switzerland v China
(4) Australia v Hong Kong
Russia v Spain
(2) England v Czech Republic
New Zealand v Singapore
(7) Belgium v Republic of Ireland
Greece v Finland
(6) Northern Ireland v Poland
Sweden v Germany
(3) Netherlands v Gibraltar
Hungary v South Africa
2018 Betway World Cup of Darts
Schedule of Play
Thursday May 31 (8pm local time)
First Round
Italy v Canada
Russia v Spain
Switzerland v China
Denmark v Brazil
Wales v Thailand
Australia v Hong Kong
Scotland v United States of America
Austria v Japan
Friday June 1 (8pm local time)
First Round
New Zealand v Singapore
Greece v Finland
Northern Ireland v Poland
Hungary v South Africa
Belgium v Republic of Ireland
England v Czech Republic
Sweden v Germany
Netherlands v Gibraltar
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