PDC World Darts Championship: Schedule of play announced with Peter Wright in action on opening night

Peter Wright will kick-off his title defence, while there will be a touch of 50 shades of Steve Beaton on a bumper opening night of the PDC World Darts Championship.

Steve West, who reached the last 16 of the tournament in 2018, will open proceedings against India's Amit Gilitwala in a first-round tie at Alexandra Palace which will see 1,000 fans in attendance for each session with strict coronavirus guidance in place.

The winner of that tie will play reigning world champion, Wright, in a second-round clash scheduled for the last match of the night.

Wright, 50, claimed his maiden world title on New Year's Day when he defeated world No 1 Michael van Gerwen in the final.

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Also in action, The Bronzed Adonis Beaton will be making a record-breaking 30th consecutive Worlds appearance when he takes on Brazil's Diogo Portela, and Canadian ace Jeff Smith goes up against highly-rated 18-year-old Keane Barry from Ireland.

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2020/21 PDC World Darts Championship

Session Schedule

Tuesday, December 15 (1800 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Steve West v Amit Gilitwala First Round
Steve Beaton v Diogo Portela First Round
Jeff Smith v Keane Barry First Round
Peter Wright v West/Gilitwala Second Round

Wednesday, December 16
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Ryan Joyce v Karel Sedlacek First Round
Ross Smith v David Evans First Round
William O'Connor v Niels Zonneveld First Round
Chris Dobey v J Smith/Barry Second Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Max Hopp v Gordon Mathers First Round
Callan Rydz v James Bailey First Round
Adam Hunt v Lisa Ashton First Round
Glen Durrant v Beaton/Portela Second Round

Thursday, December 17
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Madars Razma v Toru Suzuki First Round
Mike De Decker v Edward Foulkes First Round
Ryan Murray v Lourence Ilagan First Round
Daryl Gurney v O'Connor/Zonneveld Second Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Luke Woodhouse v Jamie Lewis First Round
Ron Meulenkamp v Boris Krcmar First Round
Ryan Searle v Danny Lauby First Round
Jose de Sousa v R Smith/D Evans Second Round

Friday, December 18
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Mickey Mansell v Haupai Puha First Round
Darius Labanauskas v Chengan Liu First Round
Wayne Jones v Ciaran Teehan First Round
Jamie Hughes v Hunt/Ashton Second Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Bradley Brooks First Round
John Henderson v Marko Kantele First Round
Luke Humphries v Paul Lim First Round
James Wade v Rydz/Bailey Second Round

Saturday, December 19
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Steve Lennon v Daniel Larsson First Round
Scott Waites v Matt Campbell First Round
Kim Huybrechts v Di Zhuang First Round
Mervyn King v Hopp/Mathers Second Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Andy Hamilton v Nico Kurz First Round
Andy Boulton v Deta Hedman First Round
Damon Heta v Danny Baggish First Round
Michael van Gerwen v Murray/Ilagan Second Round

Sunday, December 20
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x First Round, 1x Second Round
Derk Telnekes v Nick Kenny First Round
Jason Lowe v Dmitriy Gorbunov First Round
Maik Kuivenhoven v Matthew Edgar First Round
Vincent van der Voort v Meulenkamp/Krcmar Second Round

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
2x First Round, 2x Second Round
Martijn Kleermaker v Cameron Carolissen First Round
Keegan Brown v Ryan Meikle First Round
Jeffrey de Zwaan v Searle/Lauby Second Round
Gary Anderson v Razma/Suzuki Second Round

Monday, December 21 (1800 GMT)
4x Second Round
Krzysztof Ratajski v Joyce/Sedlacek
Ian White v Huybrechts/Zhuang
Gerwyn Price v Woodhouse/J Lewis
Gabriel Clemens v Hamilton/Kurz

Tuesday, December 22
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
4x Second Round
Brendan Dolan v De Decker/Foulkes
Joe Cullen v Jones/Teehan
Simon Whitlock v Labanauskas/Liu
Adrian Lewis v Heta/Baggish

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
4x Second Round
Danny Noppert v Kleermaker/Carolissen
Devon Petersen v Lennon/Larsson
Rob Cross v Van Duijvenbode/Brooks
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Humphries/Lim

Wednesday, December 23
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
4x Second Round
Ricky Evans v Mansell/Puha
Jonny Clayton v Henderson/Kantele
Stephen Bunting v Boulton/Hedman
Mensur Suljovic v Kuivenhoven/Edgar

Evening Session (1800 GMT)
4x Second Round
Dave Chisnall v Brown/Meikle
Jermaine Wattimena v Telnekes/Kenny
Nathan Aspinall v Waites/Campbell
Michael Smith v Lowe/Gorbunov

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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

You won't miss a dart this Christmas thanks to the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel which returns from December 15 until January 4 for every session from the PDC World Darts Championship. Check out daily Darts news on skysports.com/darts, our app for mobile devices and our Twitter account @skysportsdarts.