Announcements

THERE are three St Helens darters involved in the prestigious William Hill World Darts Championship which kicks off tonight.

Dave Chisnall, Michael Smith and Stephen Bunting will fly the flag for the town at the £1.8 million tournament, which is being held at London’s Alexandra Palace from tonight until January 1.

Bunting, ranked 21st in the competition, is the first of the trio in action, meeting with new World Youth Champion Dimitri Van den Bergh on Friday evening.

Chisnall, seeded number 8, is next up, meeting Vincent van der Voort in Sunday’s evening session.

And finally Smith is the last of the trio in action.

The Clock Face man, seeded 13, takes on Steve Lennon on Wednesday, 20 December.

Michael van Gerwen begin his defence of the title on the opening night against fellow Dutchman Christian Kist in the first round.

Legendary 16-time World Champion Phil Taylor will begin his final World Championship challenge on Friday December 15 against Chris Dobey.

The second round begins on Friday December 22 with a double session, and a further two sessions will be held on Saturday December 23 ahead of the Christmas break.

Keep up to date online at sthelensstar.co.uk with reports and pictures after each game.

William Hill World Darts Championship,

Preliminary & First Rounds.

(P) denotes Preliminary Round.

Thursday December 14 (7pm)

Steve Beaton v William O'Connor

James Wilson v Krzysztof Ratajski

Michael van Gerwen v Christian Kist

Gerwyn Price v Ted Evetts

Friday December 15 (7pm)

Seigo Asada v Gordon Mathers (P)

Stephen Bunting v Dimitri Van den Bergh

Phil Taylor v Chris Dobey

Rob Cross v Seigo Asada/Gordon Mathers

Saturday December 16

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Brendan Dolan v Alan Ljubic (P)

Benito van de Pas v Steve West

Mervyn King v Zoran Lerchbacher

Robert Thornton v Brendan Dolan/Alan Ljubic

Evening Session (7pm)

Jeff Smith v Luke Humphries (P)

Joe Cullen v Jermaine Wattimena

Jelle Klaasen v Jan Dekker

Gary Anderson v Jeff Smith/Luke Humphries

Sunday December 17

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

Kenny Neyens v Jamie Lewis (P)

Alan Norris v Kim Viljanen

Kyle Anderson v Peter Jacques

Jonny Clayton v Kenny Neyens/Jamie Lewis

Evening Session (7pm)

Willard Bruguier v Cody Harris (P)

James Wade v Keegan Brown

Dave Chisnall v Vincent van der Voort

Ian White v Willard Bruguier/Cody Harris

Monday December 18 (7pm)

Kai Fan Leung v Paul Lim (P)

Mensur Suljovic v Kevin Painter

Daryl Gurney v Ronny Huybrechts

Mark Webster v Kai Fan Leung/Paul Lim

Tuesday December 19 (7pm)

Aleksandr Oreshkin v Kevin Munch (P)

John Henderson v Marko Kantele

Raymond van Barneveld v Richard North

Adrian Lewis v Aleksandr Oreshkin/Kevin Munch

Wednesday December 20 (7pm)

Xiao Chen Zong v Bernie Smith (P)

Michael Smith v Steve Lennon

Simon Whitlock v Martin Schindler

Justin Pipe v Xiao Chen Zong/Bernie Smith

Thursday December 21 (7pm)

Cristo Reyes v Toni Alcinas

Kim Huybrechts v James Richardson

Darren Webster v Devon Petersen

Peter Wright v Diogo Portela

Format

Preliminary Round - Best of three sets

First Round - Best of five sets