World Cup 2016 - Preview

ENGLAND AIMING FOR FOURTH BETWAY WORLD CUP OF DARTS TRIUMPH
THE 2016 Betway World Cup of Darts begins on Thursday, with England bidding to retain their title in the 32-nation Pairs tournament which is being held across four days at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt.
The 250,000 pound tournament will see a combination of Doubles and Singles matches played as nations do battle for the title, which was won by England's Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis last June. That win was England's third in the five stagings of the event, with the Netherlands being the only other champions so far with their 2010 and 2014 successes. Taylor and Lewis again team up in Germany as they bid to retain the title, with sponsors Betway making the number one seeds the 2/1 second favourites to win the trophy ahead of their first round tie against Spain's Cristo Reyes and Antonio Alcinas on Friday.

"I really enjoy it," said Lewis. "Pairing up with Phil and playing for England is good and we've won it in three out of four years, so we've got a good record and hopefully we can retain the title. It's hard to get into a rhythm, especially when you're playing a Doubles match, but you've got to try and focus - which can be hard, especially when Phil's behind you telling you to slow down! We always have fun and a lot of friendly banter with other teams but it's brilliant playing with Phil and we enjoy it."

The Netherlands will be represented by their 2014 title-winning pairing of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld, and enter the tournament as the 13/8 favourites with Betway ahead of their first round tie with Russia in Thursday's opening night.

"I'm really excited because I love representing the Netherlands," said world number one van Gerwen. "Winning this title two years ago was very special for me and Raymond and it would be fantastic if we can do that again this weekend. We'll focus first on the Russia game because we don't know what to expect and anything can happen in Doubles matches, so we'll have to prepare well."

2015 finalists Scotland - who lost out to England 12 months ago - will be represented by World Champion Gary Anderson and World Grand Prix champion Robert Thornton, with the pair up against New Zealand's Warren Parry and Cody Harris in the first round as they bid to claim further major glory.

"It would be great to win the World Cup," said Anderson. "Adrian and Phil haven't let me forget that final for an entire year but the pressure will be on them and hopefully Robert and myself can come through. We won't be taking anything for granted against New Zealand though because it's a big chance for them and they'll want to produce a big upset against us."

Thursday's opening night also sees 2012 finalists Australia, represented by Simon Whitlock and debutant Kyle Anderson, facing host nation Germany, who will have PDC Unicorn World Youth Champion Max Hopp alongside Jyhan Artut.
Brothers Kim and Ronny Huybrechts team up once again for 2013 finalists Belgium, who will take on Poland's Krzysztof Ratajski and Mariusz Paul, while USA face the Philippines, Denmark take on Scandinavian rivals Sweden, Norway meet Gibraltar and Hungary open up against Thailand.

Friday's remaining first round games will include 2010 finalists Wales, represented by Mark Webster and debutant Gerwyn Price, take on Finland, the 2013 semi-finalists who will be represented by Kim Viljanen and Marko Kantele in Frankfurt.
Former rugby player Price has secured his World Cup debut after jumping to 25th on the PDC Order of Merit with two Players Championship wins this year, and he admitted: "Over the past 12 months, this has probably been my main target. "Mark's got experience and he's the number one and captain of Wales and I'm sure I'll work pretty well with him. I'm just looking forward to getting out there, putting the Welsh shirt on and seeing what happens. Mark and myself have been playing well and I've looked at the way the draw can work out and I think we can get to the semi-finals and possibly play England - but there's going to be some tough games leading up to that."

Number four seeds Northern Ireland also welcome a debutant in Daryl Gurney, who partners Brendan Dolan as they open up their challenge against Japan's Haruki Muramatsu and Keita Ono.
Greece make their World Cup of Darts debut as John Michael and Ioannis Selachoglou take on Canada's John Part and Ken MacNeil, while South Africa meet Singapore, Austria face Italy, the Republic of Ireland play Hong Kong and the Czech Republic meet China







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