Luke Littler faces a possible showdown in opposition to Fallon Sherrock on the Paddy Energy World Darts Championship, whereas Luke Humphries will start his title defence in opposition to Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito.
Humphries returns as defending champion after final yr’s 7-4 victory over Littler, with the pair heading the betting for this yr’s match which will get underneath manner at Alexandra Palace on December 15 – dwell on Sky Sports activities.
World No 1 Humphries has already defended his Gamers Championship Finals title in 2024, including to the Betfred World Matchplay success and three runner-up finishes in PDC majors this yr, whereas Littler has gained the Premier League and the Mr Vegas Grand Slam of Darts throughout a outstanding debut season.
They’re among the many 96 gamers who shall be competing to win the enduring Sid Waddell Trophy and £500,000 prime prize, with Littler – the fourth seed – and prime seed Humphries in the identical half of the draw and heading in the right direction for a possible semi-final showdown.
The highest 32 gamers from the PDC Order of Advantage following Sunday’s Ladbrokes Gamers Championship Finals enter on the second-round stage, with the primary spherical seeing 32 gamers from the ProTour Order of Advantage Qualifiers enjoying one of many Worldwide Qualifiers.
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Humphries appears to be like to turn into a back-to-back world champion at Alexandra Palace this Christmas, dwell on Sky Sports activities
Littler has been handed a blockbuster draw in opposition to Suffolk’s Ryan Meikle or Sherrock, who was dubbed ‘Queen of the Palace’ throughout her run to the third spherical in 2020 and returns to make her fifth look in six years.
The schedule of play is ready to be confirmed later this week.
Full second-round draw
Seeds in brackets; Greatest-of-five units
Opening quarter
Luke Humphries (1) vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
Raymond van Barneveld (32) vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
James Wade (16) vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
Peter Wright (17) vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
Stephen Bunting (8) vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
Dirk van Duijvenbode (25) vs Madars Razma or Christian Kist
Damon Heta (9) vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
Mike De Decker (24) vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
Second quarter
Luke Littler (4) vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
Ritchie Edhouse (29) vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
Danny Noppert (13) vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
Ryan Searle (20) vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
Rob Cross (5) vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
Gian van Veen (28) vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
Nathan Aspinall (12) vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
Andrew Gilding (21) vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
Third quarter
Michael Smith (2) vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Krzysztof Ratajski (31) vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
Chris Dobey (15) vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
Josh Rock (18) vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
Jonny Clayton (7) vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
Daryl Gurney (26) vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey De Zwaan
Gerwyn Worth (10) vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
Joe Culley (23) vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
Backside quarter
Michael van Gerwen (3) vs James Hurrell or Jim Lengthy
Brendan Dolan (30) vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
Gary Anderson (14) vs Jeffrey de Graaf vs Rashad Sweeting
Ross Smith (19) vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
Dave Chisnall (6) vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
Gabriel Clemens (27) vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
Dimitri van den Bergh (11) vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
Martin Schindler (22) vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
When will the World Darts Championship happen?
The match will get underneath manner on the Alexandra Palace on Sunday December 15, with three first-round matches and one second-round match on the opening night.
There shall be dwell darts over every of the next eight days, together with seven afternoon periods, with the same old three-day break from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day earlier than returning with the third spherical and a double session on December 27.
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Talking on Love The Darts, Michael Bridge and Polly James debate which gamers are nonetheless to be feared when enjoying in opposition to them
The third and fourth rounds shall be accomplished by December 30 earlier than an evening off on New 12 months’s Eve, with the quarter-finals held throughout two periods on New 12 months’s Day forward of the semi-finals on January 2 and the ultimate on Friday January 3.
The complete day-by-day schedule for this yr’s match may be discovered right here.
Who will win the Paddy Energy World Darts Championship? Watch each match completely dwell from December 15-January 3 on Sky Sports activities’ devoted darts channel. Stream darts and extra prime sport with NOW.
