ST HELENS darter Michael Smith groups up with Rob Cross for high seeds England within the BetVictor World Cup of Darts in Salzburg in November.
The English pair tackle Philippines in a repeat of final yr’s opening spherical of the event.
A brand new-look Scottish group, made up of John Henderson and Robert Thornton, usually are not among the many eight seeded nations and face a difficult opening tie towards Japan’s Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada because the nations meet for a 3rd successive yr.
Wales’ quantity two seeds Gerwyn Value and Jonny Clayton will play Russia.
The 32-nation event sees two-player groups representing their nations, with choice based mostly initially on the top-ranked gamers on the PDC Order of Benefit, and can happen on the Salzburgarena from November 6-8.
Michael van Gerwen will likely be joined by debutant Danny Noppert in representing the Netherlands, with the Dutch pair set to tackle Brazil of their opener.
Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan’s Northern Eire will face a powerful Canadian aspect, whereas Dimitri Van den Bergh and Kim Huybrechts’ Belgium will tackle the Czech Republic.
Host nation Austria, represented by Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez, will play USA, whereas Germany’s Max Hopp and Gabriel Clemens will come up towards Finland.
One of many decide of the primary spherical ties will see final yr’s runners-up Republic of Eire, who once more characteristic the pairing of William O’Connor and Steve Lennon, face Simon Whitlock and Damon Heta’s Australia.
In a change to the preliminary itemizing of group line-ups, Finland will now be represented by Marko Kantele and Veijo Viinikka following the withdrawal of Kim Viljanen.
The schedule of play for the occasion will likely be confirmed in the end.
The BetVictor World Cup of Darts will likely be televised on Sky Sports activities in addition to via the PDC’s worldwide broadcast companions together with RTL7 and DAZN, in addition to for PDCTV ‘Remainder of the World Subscribers’ and on matchroom.reside.
BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Draw Bracket
(1) England v Philippines
Lithuania v Gibraltar
(8) Austria v USA
Singapore v Hungary
(4) Northern Eire v Canada
New Zealand v Denmark
(5) Belgium v Czech Republic
Hong Kong v China
(2) Wales v Russia
Japan v Scotland
(7) Republic of Eire v Australia
Poland v South Africa
(3) Netherlands v Brazil
Italy v Spain
(6) Germany v Finland
Sweden v Greece
2020 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Competing Nations & Gamers (seeding in brackets)
(1) England – Michael Smith & Rob Cross
(2) Wales – Gerwyn Value & Jonny Clayton
(3) Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen & Danny Noppert
(4) Northern Eire – Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
(5) Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh & Kim Huybrechts
(6) Germany – Max Hopp & Gabriel Clemens
(7) Republic of Eire – William O’Connor & Steve Lennon
(8) Austria – Mensur Suljovic & Rowby-John Rodriguez
Australia – Simon Whitlock & Damon Heta
Brazil – Diogo Portela & Bruno Rangel
Canada – Jeff Smith & Matt Campbell
China – Xicheng Han & Di Zhuang
Czech Republic – Karel Sedlacek & Adam Gawlas
Denmark – Niels Heinsøe & Per Laursen
Finland – Marko Kantele & Veijo Viinikka
Gibraltar – Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt
Greece – John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
Hong Kong – Kai Fan Leung & Royden Lam
Hungary – Patrik Kovacs & Janos Vegsö
Italy – Andrea Micheletti & Daniele Petri
Japan – Seigo Asada & Yuki Yamada
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas & Mindaugas Barauskas
New Zealand – Cody Harris & Haupai Puha
Philippines – Lourence Ilagan & Noel Malicdem
Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski & Krzysztof Kciuk
Russia – Boris Koltsov & Aleksei Kadochnikov
Scotland – John Henderson & Robert Thornton
Singapore – Paul Lim & Harith Lim
South Africa – Devon Petersen & Carl Gabriel
Spain – Cristo Reyes & Toni Alcinas
Sweden – Daniel Larsson & Dennis Nilsson
USA – Chuck Puleo & Danny Lauby
