Day 4 Sees Former Champion Price Enter The Palace

Welshman Gerwyn Price starts his campaign for a second world title on Monday evening while Gian van Veen is also in action on day four of the 2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.

Price Primed For Title Tilt

Welshman Price, the 2021 champion courtesy of his 7-3 final win over Gary Anderson, comes into the tournament as the number five seed and one of the most feared players in the field, despite a fairly low key year by his impeccably high standards.

A couple of European Tour wins at the European Darts Open and the International Darts Open were followed by a loss in the Premier League Final to Michael van Gerwen. ‘The Iceman’ and good friend Jonny Clayton were World Cup of Darts winners in June before Luke Humphries got the better of Price in the World Grand Prix final. Early exits at both the Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals won’t have been ideal preparation for the man from Markham but it’s nigh on impossible to write off a player of Price’s pedigree.

Price’s quest for a second quest kicks off against Connor Scutt, who was impressive in defeating Krzysztof Kciuk on Saturday afternoon. 5 maximums and over 60% on the outer ring resulted in a near 96 average for Scutt, an impressive effort for a man making his championship debut.

Best of the Rest

One of the hottest properties in the sport makes his eagerly awaited championship debut on Monday evening as Gian van Veen takes to the Ally Pally stage, facing Man Lok Leung of Hong Kong.

It’s been an exceptional first full year on tour for Van Veen, with a couple of European Tour quarter finals and a semi final at the European Championships, where defeat to James Wade saw the Dutch youngster just miss out on the final.

November’s epic World Youth final loss to Luke Littler showed that van Veen can produce the goods on the big stage and he’ll be hoping to seal a second round clash with 2023 semi finalist Gabriel Clemens by beating the relatively unknown Leung, who has made it to the Palace through the Asian Tour.

Also In Action

Martin ‘Smash’ Lukeman makes his second appearance at the Worlds on Monday, facing New Zealander Haupai Puha. After a breakout 2022, it’s been a tougher past 12 months for ‘Smash’.

Puha is a regular in the Oceanic World Series events and could provide a tough test for Watford’s Lukeman. A tie against Damon Heta awaits the winner.

2022 WDF World Championship runner up Thibault Tricole makes his Ally Pally debut after coming through the recent West Europe qualifier, taking on Belgian Mario Vandenbogaerde in what looks an evenly matched encounter.

Frenchman Tricole has featured in the World Cup of Darts and UK Open during the past year but is yet to make an appearance on the sport’s biggest stage and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares. Former champion Rob Cross lies in wait in round two for the victor.

Monday’s Order of Play

Mario Vandenbogaerde v Thibault Tricole (R1)

Gian van Veen v Man Lok Leung (R1)

Martin Lukeman v Haupai Puha (R1)

(5) Gerwyn Price v Connor Scutt (R2)