PDC World Championship
World Cup of Darts preview: Scotland duo set to defend their title
Thursday sees the start of the PDC World Cup of Darts, as 32 nations compete for the trophy.
After winning the title in 2020, Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price will play together for the fifth year in a row and come in to the tournament as favourites at 15/8.
The Scottish duo of Peter Wright and John Henderson will set out to defend their title and claim a third World Cup title for Scotland at 11/1.
How does it work?
From June 16-19, the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt will see 32 player pairings representing their respective countries in both doubles and singles matches in a bid to bring the trophy home. Thursday and Friday will consist of 16 first round matches. The eight second round matches will be played on Saturday before the tournament winners are decided Sunday night with the quarter-finals and semi-finals being played earlier in the day. Denmark and Singapore will kick off the tournament with Singapore 6/10 to make it in to the second round.
UK set to dominate
The home nations are all expected to progress to the latter stages of the tournament with ease. Northern Irish duo Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan reached the quarter-finals last year and this time around they will look to go even further than that. As one of only four players to have played in every PDC World Cup, at 16/1 to go all the way, Dolan will be hoping that his 13th appearance at the tournament will be a lucky one. As 1/20 favourites to beat Gibraltar in the first round it would be a huge shock if they didn’t advance.
Michael Smith and James Wade will look to bring the trophy to England for a fifth time which would see England move above The Netherlands as the most successful team at the World Cup and at 9/2 they are third favourites to do so. The Englishmen will be hoping for a regulation win against the Czech Republic in the first round but as 1/4 favourites they face one of the tougher unseeded sides.
Premier League semi-finalist Jonny Clayton will team up with former World Championship winner Gerwyn Price as the pair look to win the title for a second time. As favourites to win the tournament at 15/8 it is no surprise that the Welshmen are expected to breeze through the first round, with the duo 1/33 to beat the Philippines.
Scotland pairing of Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright and John Henderson proved successful last year as they ran out tournament winners. Despite being the reigning champions both players’ below par performance this season see them as sixth favourites to win the tournament at 11/1. They will still be expected to reach the latter stages of the tournament and at 1/25 to beat Hong Kong in the first round they will hope to progress far into the tournament.
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Who could disrupt the Home Nations’ success?
Netherlands and Australia and Belgium are the nations that split up the Home Nations at the top of the betting.
Despite the absence of Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen the Netherlands pairing of Danny Noppert and Dirk van Duijvenbode are second favourites at 9/2 to take home the trophy. Noppert, the UK Open champion and 2020 World Grand Prix runner-up, will be expected to go deep in to the tournament and at 1/25 to defeat Brazil in the first round an early exit seems unfathomable.
Australian’s Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock could prove to be a formidable partnership at this year’s World Cup with the latter being one of only four players to have appeared in every edition of the tournament, providing the duo with all the experience needed to go deep in this tournament. They are 9/1 fourth favourites to take home the trophy. They face Lithuania in the first round and are 1/5 to progress.
After exiting the tournament in the second round last year Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts will be hoping to go at least one better and as fifth favourites at 10/1 to win the tournament they will be expected to make it further than the second round this year. At 1/16 to defeat Japan in the first round they will certainly be confident of at least equalling last year’s finish.
