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Peter Wright to face Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb in PDC World Championship opener

Wright to face Mansell or Robb in World Championship opener
© Reuters
Peter Wright will start the defence of his PDC world title with a match against either Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb.

Defending champion Peter Wright will face either Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb in his first match at the 2023 PDC World Championship.

The 52-year-old, who has won two of the last three editions at Alexandra Palace, will be content with an opening tie against Mansell, the world number 88, or New Zealand representative Robb.

Meanwhile, top seed Gerwyn Price faces a potentially tricky tie against Luke Woodhouse, who must first beat Vladyslav Omelchenko with the Ukrainian making his debut.

Raymond van Barneveld could lie in wait for Price if the Dutchman is able to defeat either Ryan Meikle or former women's world champion Lisa Ashton.

Michael van Gerwen will go up against either Niels Zonneveld or Lewy Williams in his last-64 encounter, while recently-crowned Grand Slam of Darts champion Michael Smith will meet either Jermaine Wattimena or Nathan Rafferty.

Of the seeded players, it is 23rd seed Callan Rydz who may play world youth champion Josh Rock with the young Northern Irishman first facing Jose Justica.

The tournament is due to get underway on December 15.

Draw in full:

Gerwyn Price vs. Luke Woodhouse or Vladyslav Omelchenko
Raymond van Barneveld vs. Ryan Meikle or Lisa Ashton
Ryan Searle vs. Adam Gawlas or Richie Burnett
Jose De Sousa vs. Simon Whitlock or Christian Perez
James Wade vs. Jim Williams or Sebastian Bialecki
Gabriel Clemens vs. William O'Connor or Beau Greaves
Danny Noppert vs. Ritchie Edhouse or David Cameron
Daryl Gurney vs. Alan Soutar or Mal Cuming
Michael Smith vs. Jermaine Wattimena or Nathan Rafferty
Martin Schindler vs. Martin Lukeman or Nobuhiro Yamamoto
Joe Cullen vs. Ricky Evans or Fallon Sherrock
Damon Heta vs. Adrian Lewis or Daniel Larsson
Luke Humphries vs. Keegan Brown or Florian Hempel
Vincent van der Voort vs. Cameron Menzies or Diogo Portela
Dave Chisnall vs. Andrew Gilding or Robert Owen
Stephen Bunting vs. Geert Nentjes or Leonard Gates
Peter Wright vs. Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb
Kim Huybrechts vs. Keane Barry or Grant Sampson
Dimitri Van den Bergh vs. Rowby-John Rodriguez or Lourence Ilagan
Krzysztof Ratajski vs. Danny Jansen or Paolo Nerbida
Jonny Clayton vs. Steve Beaton or Danny van Trijp
Brendan Dolan vs. Jamie Hughes or Jimmy Hendriks
Nathan Aspinall vs. Boris Krcmar or Toru Suzuki
Callan Rydz vs. Josh Rock or Jose Justica
Michael van Gerwen vs. Niels Zonneveld or Lewy Williams
Mensur Suljovic vs. Mike De Decker or Jeff Smith
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs. Karel Sedlacek or Raymond Smith
Ross Smith vs. John O'Shea or Darius Labanauskas
Rob Cross vs. Scott Williams or Ryan Joyce
Mervyn King vs. Matt Campbell or Danny Baggish
Gary Anderson vs. Madars Razma or Prakash Jiwa
Chris Dobey vs. Martijn Kleermaker or Xicheng Han

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Written by
Darren Plant

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Michael van Gerwen in action in March 2016
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