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James Wade begins his World Darts Championship title challenge

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Wayne Mardle and John Part preview day seven's action of the World Darts Championship

James Wade begins his bid for a maiden World Darts Championship title on Wednesday, where three of the top ten seeds are in action.

Three more players will book their places in the last 32, which already includes world No 1 Michael Van Gerwen and 16-time world champion Phil Taylor.

You can watch the penultimate night of first-round action live from 7pm on Sky Sports 1 HD or Sky Sports Darts HD, with leg-by-leg coverage also available via the live text blog.

Live World Darts Championship

Wade, a three-time semi-finalist at Alexandra Palace, faces Belgium's Ronny Huybrechts, who is looking to reach the second round for the third year running.

"Ronny Huybrechts normally plays to a decent standard," Sky Sports' Wayne Mardle said. "He's never going to set the world alight with nine darters and umpteen 180s, but if James Wade makes mistakes he will be there to clean up."

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All the best action from day six of the World Darts Championship

Elsewhere, eighth seed Mensur Suljovic kicks off his tournament against Dutchman Ron Meulenkamp, who was knocked out in the first round in his only previous appearance.

The first match sees Austria's Zoran Lerchbacher take on debutant Simon Stevenson, with the winner facing Robert Thornton in the first round proper later that evening.

Also See:

Wednesday's Matches (starts 7pm) - (P) denotes preliminary round

Zoran Lerchbacher v Simon Stevenson (P)

Mensur Suljovic (8) v Ron Meulenkamp

James Wade (6) v Ronny Huybrechts

James Wade
Image: Wade was beaten in the quarter finals last year by Gary Anderson

Robert Thornton (9) v Lerchbacher/Stevenson

You can see all the action from day seven from the Alexandra Palace from 7pm on Sky Sports Darts HD. Don't forget, you can send us your comments and predictions throughout this year's tournament by tweeting us @SkySportsDarts ... #LoveTheDarts

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