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World Darts Championship 2023/24: Day Four Preview and Order of Play

Live Darts on Sunday: World Darts Championship Day Three Preview and Order of Play

Jamie Shaw in World Darts Championship 17 Dec 2023

Fallon Sherrock celebrates (Photo by Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Luke Humphries launches his bid for a maiden world title at Alexandra Palace on Saturday, while Joe Cullen and Fallon Sherrock also feature.

Day Three of the World Championship comprises another unmissable double-header of First Round and Second Round ties as a clutch of box office names bid to avert an early exit.

The afternoon session sees 14th seed Joe Cullen begin his campaign against debutant Aussie qualifier Darren Penhall.

Cullen has been an ever-present in the World Championship since 2011, but has never been beyond the Last 16 stage, falling twice at that hurdle in his last three appearances.

The former Masters champion and Premier League finalist picked up three ranking titles last year but has not registered a tournament win this season, with his best performances coming in the World Matchplay and World Grand Prix – where he reached the Semi-Finals.

Australian qualifier Penhall has dominated the DPA circuit this year, reaching 18 finals in 25 events and winning 13 of those to storm to the top of the DPA Order of Merit.

The 51-year-old marked a dream debut by defeating American ace Jules van Dongen 3-1 on Saturday afternoon with a 91.3 average.

Crowd favourite Ricky Evans aims to delight the Ally Pally faithful once more when he faces South African debutant Simon Adams.

Evans returns for his ninth appearance in the World Championship, having twice reached the Third Round before finding himself on the wrong end of 4-0 whitewashes to Michael van Gerwen.

The two-time European Tour event finalist landed a quick-fire nine-darter in the last Players Championship event of the season and has not lost his opening match at Ally Pally in his last four visits.

Adams, 56, takes to the sport’s biggest stage for the first time after winning the African qualifier and has warmed up for the event with a series of impressive displays in the Modus Super Series.

Former BDO world finalist Jim Williams looks to avert a huge upset at the hands of veteran qualifier Norman Madhoo.

Williams, runner-up in Players Championship 30, suffered an agonising 4-3 defeat at the hands of Gabriel Clemens after missing a match dart in the Third Round last year and returns looking to set up a Second Round show-down with Peter Wright.

Madhoo, the only Guyanese player to have competed in the World Championship, returns to Ally Pally for the first time since 2011, having sealed his qualification via the inaugural Championship Darts Latin America and Caribbean Tour after finishing top of the CDLC Order of Merit.

Meanwhile, Canadian number one Matt Campbell faces a tricky opening test against Lourence Ilagan of the Philipinnes.

Campbell, a former ProTour event finalist, is aiming to register his first win in the World Championship at the fifth time of asking after a solid year which has seen him qualify for six European Tour events and reach the Last 16 of the Belgian Open.

Ilagan is the most recognisable darter in the Philipinnes and has appeared in seven previous PDC World Championships, notably reaching Round Two for the first time 12 months ago by defeating Rowby-John Rodriguez before going down 3-0 to Dimitri van den Bergh.

The evening session sees man of the moment and pre-tournament favourite Humphries look to lay down a marker in his pursuit of a maiden world title as he faces Lee Evans.

Humphries heads in to the tournament on the back of a remarkable spell of dominance, having won three of the last four televised majors in a period of less than two months.

The world number three, who has reached three previous World Championship Quarter-Finals, opened his account at the World Grand Prix in October before going on to add the Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals titles.

Five times a European Tour event winner, ‘Cool Hand’ Luke is red hot favourite to cap off a breakthrough season by lifting the Sid Waddell trophy, but is housed in the same half of the draw as Michael van Gerwen – who will have revenge in his sights for his painful defeat in the final in Minehead.

Evans, who has competed in four European Tour events during his first season as a Tour Card holder, defeated Sandro Eric Sosing of the Phillipines in three straight sets on Saturday and is now aiming to pull off the biggest result of his career.

Fallon Sherrock looks to record her first win on the Ally Pally stage since her historic exploits in 2019 when she comes up against Jermaine Wattimena.

Sherrock created history by becoming the first woman to beat a man in a World Darts Championship when she defeated Ted Evetts on debut and went on to stun Mensur Suljovic before eventually bowing out to Chris Dobey in the Third Round.

Since then, the 2022 Women’s World Matchplay champion has suffered successive First Round exits but has enjoyed another memorable year on and off the oche, picking up five Women’s Series titles, hitting a televised nine-darter and becoming an MBE.

Wattimena is looking to avoid becoming another victim of the ‘Queen of the palace’ and stave off what would be a third consecutive First Round exit on this stage.

The rapid Dutchman reached the Last 16 of the recent Players Championship Finals, notably taking out 164 in the deciding leg to seal victory over Richard Veenstra on the Main Stage.

Kicking off the night is a clash between Irish youngster Dylan Slevin and German ace Florian Hempel.

Left-hander Slevin, 21, is a former Development Tour winner and has reached the Semi-Finals of a Players Championship event this season.

Hempel reached the Third Round on his Ally Pally debut two years ago before narrowly losing out 3-2 to Humphries in last year’s Second Round and is out to maintain his perfect record in the opening round in order to retain his tour card.

Dutch left-hander Niels Zonneveld takes on the returning Darren Webster – quarter-finalist in 2007 and 2018.

Zonneveld secured the penultimate ProTour qualification spot to make his third World Championship appearance, and recently made the Last 16 of the Players Championship Finals with wins over Daryl Gurney and Jonny Clayton.

Webster battled through the Tour Card holder qualifier a fortnight ago to clinch his first Ally Pally appearance in four years, with his last match on this stage a seven set epic against Adrian Lewis.

The former major semi-finalist has endured a torrid time on the tour since regaining his tour card in January 2022, racking up just £15,000 in prize money prior to this event.

The action gets under way from 12.30pm 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 2023/24 Day Three Schedule

Sunday December 17

Afternoon Session (12.30pm-5pm)
Ricky Evans v Simon Adams (R1)
Jim Williams v Norman Madhoo (R1)
Matt Campbell v Lourence Ilagan (R1)
Joe Cullen v Darren Penhall (R2)

Evening Session (7pm-11pm)
Dylan Slevin v Florian Hempel (R1)
Niels Zonneveld v Darren Webster (R1)
Jermaine Wattimena v Fallon Sherrock (R1)
Luke Humphries v Lee Evans (R2)

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Live Darts on Sunday: World Darts Championship Day Three Preview and Order of Play

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