World Darts Championship 2022/23 | Day One preview and order of play
Peter Wright launches the defence of his World Darts Championship title on the opening night of the competition at Alexandra Palace on Thursday.
The waiting is finally over as the annual festive feast of arrows gets under way at Ally Pally with 96 players competing for £2.5 million in prize money and the iconic Sid Waddell trophy.
As per tradition, the defending champion will feature on the opening night of the competition, with this year’s honour falling to world number two Wright.
Wright claimed the crown for the second time courtesy of a 7-5 victory over Michael Smith in January’s final and the colourful Scot is bidding to join Michael van Gerwen as the second most decorated player in PDC World Championship history.
Only three players (Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson) have ever retained the sport’s most prestigious trophy, and Wright faces a tough ask if he is to pick up his first major title of the season and join that elite group.
Wright’s best run in a televised ranking tournament so far this season saw him reach the Semi-Finals of October’s World Grand Prix, having finished fifth in the Premier League and made the Quarter-Finals of the World Matchplay and European Championship.
Snakebite’s preparation for Ally Pally has been far from ideal, having crashed out of the Grand Slam in the group stage before missing the Players Championship Finals for family reasons, but he will be keen to hit the ground running and put down a marker on opening night.
He awaits the winner of the First Round tie between Northern Ireland’s Mickey Mansell and New Zealand’s Ben Robb, as they face off in the tournament’s curtain-raiser.
Former ProTour event winner Mansell is making his seventh World Championship appearance, having registered his first win on the sport’s biggest stage 12 months ago.
Robb, meanwhile, returns for his third stint at Ally Pally as the DPNZ Qualifier and is vying for his first win, having also featured in this year’s New Zealand Darts Masters.
Republic of Ireland star Keane Barry gets his campaign under way with a clash against South African debutant Grant Sampson.
Barry, 20, enjoyed a superb run to the Semi-Finals of March’s UK Open and also reached the Third Round of last month’s Players Championship Finals at the same venue in Minehead.
The quick-fire youngster is making his fourth consecutive World Championship appearance, having made it third time lucky by beating Royden Lam 3-2 last time out before narrowly being denied in a fifth set decider by Jonny Clayton in the Second Round.
Sampson, meanwhile, came through the African qualifier in October to seal a dream debut, defeating former European Tour event winner Devon Petersen along the way.
Nathan Rafferty is another Ally Pally newcomer looking to make an instant impact when he comes up against resurgent Dutchman Jermaine Wattimena.
Rafferty, 22, has racked up nine Development Tour titles as well as a Challenge Tour title during his brief career so far and qualified courtesy of topping this year’s Development Tour Order of Merit.
He reached the Last 16 of the 2021 Grand Slam and will be relishing a first taste of the sport’s most famous stage against an opponent for whom wins have proved few and far between in this event down the years.
Wattimena is gearing up for a ninth appearance at the World Championship, with his best run to date coming behind closed doors two years ago when he reached the Third Round.
Wattimena came through the Tour Card holder qualifier to reach last month’s Grand Slam and finished second in his group before bowing out in the Last 16, following on from two recent Players Championship Quarter-Final runs.
The action gets under way from 7pm GMT, with First Round and Second Round matches to be contested over the best five sets, best of five legs per set.
The tie break rule does not apply to First Round matches, meaning the fifth leg of a deciding set would be sudden death, while the final set in matches from Round Two onwards must be won by two clear legs, unless the score reaches 5-5, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played.
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World Darts Championship 2022/23 Day One Schedule
Thursday December 15
7.15pm Mickey Mansell v Ben Robb (R1)
8.15pm Keane Barry v Grant Sampson (R1)
9.15pm Jermaine Wattimena v Nathan Rafferty (R1)
10.15pm Peter Wright v Mansell/Robb (R2)
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