World Cup

The World Cup of Darts kicks off tonight, and it is usually a joyful little competition.

Last years tournament was won by the English pairing of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis and they are back to defend their title.
The losing finalists, Scotland, have Gary Anderson back, but Peter Wright has lost his place to Robert Thornton.
Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld have won this before, and once again represent the Netherlands.
The Huybrechts brothers were beaten semi finalists last year, and Belgium once again have them playing.
Australia (Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson), Wales (Mark Webster and Gerwyn Price), Northern Ireland (Brendon Dolan and Daryl Gurney), and Austria (Mensur Suljovic and Rowby John Rodriguez) are the other seeds.


The first round is over the next two nights, live on Sky Sports from 7pm:

Thursday June 2 (7pm BST)
First Round
(Best-of-nine leg doubles match)
Hungary v Thailand
USA v Philippines
Norway v Gibraltar
Denmark v Sweden
Belgium v Poland
Scotland v New Zealand
Netherlands v Russia
Australia v Germany

Friday June 3 (7pm BST)
First Round
(Best-of-nine leg doubles match)
Czech Republic v China
Greece v Canada
Republic of Ireland v Hong Kong
South Africa v Singapore
Northern Ireland v Japan
Wales v Finland
England v Spain
Austria v Italy