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

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