World Champion Peter Wright Set to Open PDC World Darts Championship

The annual festive bonanza of darts is just a week away and the reigning World Champion, Peter "Snakebite" Wright, is set to start his defence of the trophy against Steve West or Amit Gilitwala on the opening session.

The pre-Christmas period in the sport's greatest tournament will see the first and second rounds played across nine days from December 15-23.

The schedule of play has now been confirmed for the pre-Christmas period, which will include Wright's clash with Steve West or Amit Gilitwala on the opening night.

An exciting first session will also see Steve Beaton compete in his record 30th successive World Championship as he plays Brazil's Diogo Portela, while Canada's Jeff Smith takes on Irish prospect Keane Barry.

The second day of action on Wednesday December 16 will feature a double session, including seeded stars Glen Durrant and Chris Dobey, as well as Adam Hunt's tie with four-time Women's World Champion Lisa Ashton.

Grand Slam of Darts champion Jose de Sousa and Daryl Gurney are the seeded stars competing on Thursday December 17, while Friday's double session will feature James Wade, Jamie Hughes and the first round tie between Luke Humphries and Paul Lim.

World number one Michael van Gerwen opens his challenge to win a fourth World Championship on Saturday December 19, on a day while will also feature Women's Series Qualifier Deta Hedman's tie with Andy Boulton and Scott Waites' Alexandra Palace debut.

Two-time World Champion Gary Anderson takes to the stage on Sunday December 20, with Dutch stars Vincent van der Voort and Jeffrey de Zwaan also in action as the first round concludes.

Third seed Gerwyn Price opens his challenge to improve on his semi-final run 12 months ago on Monday December 21, with Ian White, Krzysztof Ratajski and Gabriel Clemens also competing.

A double session of second round action on Tuesday December 22 will feature World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and former World Champions Adrian Lewis and Rob Cross.

The second round will conclude across two sessions on Wednesday December 23, when top ten stars Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall and Dave Chisnall are amongst the stars in action.

Following a three-day Christmas break, the third and fourth rounds will be held from December 27-30, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final being held from January 1-3.

Tickets for the William Hill World Darts Championship are now on general sale from seetickets.com/darts, with up to 1,000 fans per session able to attend under specific regulations.

In a change from previous World Championship rules to reduce the possibility of sessions over-running, there will be no tie-break in any match. Should any deciding set reach two-all, the fifth leg would be the final leg.

Global coverage will be headlined by coverage on the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel, while the PDC's international broadcast partners will include RTL7 in the Netherlands, DAZN in various territories, Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sport in New Zealand, PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers and at matchroom.live.

2020/21 William Hill World Darts Championship

Session Schedule

Tuesday December 15 (1800 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Steve West v Amit Gilitwala (R1)

Steve Beaton v Diogo Portela (R1)

Jeff Smith v Keane Barry (R1)

Peter Wright v West/Gilitwala (R2)

Wednesday December 16

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Ryan Joyce v Karel Sedlacek (R1)

Ross Smith v David Evans (R1)

William O’Connor v Niels Zonneveld (R1)

Chris Dobey v J Smith/Barry (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Max Hopp v Gordon Mathers (R1)

Callan Rydz v James Bailey (R1)

Adam Hunt v Lisa Ashton (R1)

Glen Durrant v Beaton/Portela (R2)

Thursday December 17

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Madars Razma v Toru Suzuki (R1)

Mike De Decker v Edward Foulkes (R1)

Ryan Murray v Lourence Ilagan (R1)

Daryl Gurney v O’Connor/Zonneveld (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Luke Woodhouse v Jamie Lewis (R1)

Ron Meulenkamp v Boris Krcmar (R1)

Ryan Searle v Danny Lauby (R1)

Jose de Sousa v R Smith/D Evans (R2)

Friday December 18

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Mickey Mansell v Haupai Puha (R1)

Darius Labanauskas v Chengan Liu (R1)

Wayne Jones v Ciaran Teehan (R1)

Jamie Hughes v Hunt/Ashton (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Bradley Brooks (R1)

John Henderson v Marko Kantele (R1)

Luke Humphries v Paul Lim (R1)

James Wade v Rydz/Bailey (R2)

Saturday December 19

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Steve Lennon v Daniel Larsson (R1)

Scott Waites v Matt Campbell (R1)

Kim Huybrechts v Di Zhuang (R1)

Mervyn King v Hopp/Mathers (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Andy Hamilton v Nico Kurz (R1)

Andy Boulton v Deta Hedman (R1)

Damon Heta v Danny Baggish (R1)

Michael van Gerwen v Murray/Ilagan (R2)

Sunday December 20

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x First Round, 1x Second Round

Derk Telnekes v Nick Kenny (R1)

Jason Lowe v Dmitriy Gorbunov (R1)

Maik Kuivenhoven v Matthew Edgar (R1)

Vincent van der Voort v Meulenkamp/Krcmar (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

2x First Round, 2x Second Round

Martijn Kleermaker v Cameron Carolissen (R1)

Keegan Brown v Ryan Meikle (R1)

Jeffrey de Zwaan v Searle/Lauby (R2)

Jonny Clayton v Henderson/Kantele (R2)

Monday December 21 (1800 GMT)

4x Second Round

Krzysztof Ratajski v Joyce/Sedlacek (R2)

Ian White v Huybrechts/Zhuang (R2)

Gerwyn Price v Woodhouse/J Lewis (R2)

Gabriel Clemens v Hamilton/Kurz (R2)

Tuesday December 22

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

4x Second Round

Brendan Dolan v De Decker/Foulkes (R2)

Joe Cullen v Jones/Teehan (R2)

Simon Whitlock v Labanauskas/Liu (R2)

Adrian Lewis v Heta/Baggish (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

4x Second Round

Danny Noppert v Kleermaker/Carolissen (R2)

Devon Petersen v Lennon/Larsson (R2)

Rob Cross v Van Duijvenbode/Brooks (R2)

Dimitri Van den Bergh v Humphries/Lim (R2)

Wednesday December 23

Afternoon Session (1200)

4x Second Round

Ricky Evans v Mansell/Puha (R2)

Gary Anderson v Razma/Suzuki (R2)

Stephen Bunting v Boulton/Hedman (R2)

Mensur Suljovic v Kuivenhoven/Edgar (R2)

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

4x Second Round

Dave Chisnall v Brown/Meikle (R2)

Jermaine Wattimena v Telnekes/Kenny (R2)

Nathan Aspinall v Waites/Campbell (R2)

Michael Smith v Lowe/Gorbunov (R2)

Sunday December 27

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x Third Round

Monday December 28

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x Third Round

Tuesday December 29

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x Third Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

1x Third Round, 2x Fourth Round

Wednesday December 30

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

3x Fourth Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

3x Fourth Round

Friday January 1

Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)

2x Quarter-Finals

Evening Session (1800 GMT)

2x Quarter-Finals

Saturday January 2 (1800 GMT)

Semi-Finals

Sunday January 3 (1930 GMT)

Final

Format

First Round - Best of five sets

Second Round - Best of five sets

Third Round - Best of seven sets

Fourth Round - Best of seven sets

Quarter-Finals - Best of nine sets

Semi-Finals - Best of 11 sets

Final - Best of 13 sets

There will be no tie-break in any match. Should any deciding set reach two-all, the fifth leg would be the final leg.