The PDC World Darts Championship is back to finish off the year with Peter Wright set to defend his title after the Scot broke through in last year’s tournament that concluded on New Year’s Day with a 7-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen.
The competition for the Sid Waddell Trophy is as fierce as ever before this year, with Dutch maestro Van Gerwen the favourite and looking to add to his three world titles with Wright, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and many more tipped to go far over the next few weeks. Wright is eager to be announced as world champion for the first time this week.
With London set to move into tier three, there will only be fans, capped at 1,000, on the opening day of the championship at Alexandra Palace, with the measures banning fans in attendance from Wednesday - a decision Barry Hearn has described as “a slap in the face” for sport.
“We can't go one day this, one day that forever,” Hearn said on Talk Sport. “We have either got to say 'close the lot or open it'. You can't have a world of inconsistency because people don't know where they are and that involves sport. I am getting very frustrated, we are doing all the work and then getting slapped in the face.”
Reigning champion Wright got off to a fine start and is determined to live up to his style as well as his darts, after dressing up as The Grinch on opening night.
Fans will therefore have to make do with catching the darts on Sky Sports Main event and Sky Sports Arena every day - fans can also catch a live stream by using the Sky Go app through their mobile devices.
Here is the full schedule for this year’s tournament, with the results set to be updated each day:
Schedule of play
Wednesday December 23
Afternoon Session (12pm GMT)
Ricky Evans 3-1 Mansell (R2)
Gary Anderson 3-1 Razma (R2)
Stephen Bunting v Boulton/Hedman (R2)
Mensur Suljovic v Kuivenhoven/Edgar (R2)
Evening Session (6pm GMT)
Dave Chisnall v Brown/Meikle (R2)
Jermaine Wattimena v Telnekes/Kenny (R2)
Nathan Aspinall v Waites/Campbell (R2)
Michael Smith v Lowe/Gorbunov (R2)
Sunday, December 27
Afternoon Session
3 x Third Round
Evening Session
3 x Third Round
Monday, December 28
Afternoon Session
3 x Third Round
Evening Session
3 x Third Round
Tuesday, December 29
Afternoon Session
3 x Third Round
Evening Session
1 x Third Round, 2 x Fourth Round
Wednesday, December 30
Afternoon Session
3 x Fourth Round
Evening Session
3 x Fourth Round
Friday, January 1
Afternoon Session
2 x Quarter-Finals
Evening Session
2 x Quarter-Finals
Saturday, January 2
Semi-Finals
Sunday, January 3
Final
