Cody Harris among international names to qualify for World Darts Championship
Auckland thrower Harris has been praised by Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld
Thursday 19 October 2017 13:48, UK
New Zealand's darting sensation Cody Harris is among 24 international qualifiers who will compete at the World Darts Championship.
The qualifiers will compete in a 72-player field in the sport's biggest tournament at Alexandra Palace from December 14-January 1.
They join the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit following November's Players Championship Finals as well as 16 qualifiers from the one-year ProTour Order of Merit.
Following the progress in eastern Europe as a potential development area for the PDC, a second eastern European qualifier will compete at Alexandra Palace, meaning that Krzysztof Ratajski, as the top-ranked eastern European on the ProTour Order of Merit, makes his debut.
In addition, Canadian Jeff Smith, the NDFC number one who has played on the PDC ProTour, will make his first appearance.
The international qualifiers which have already been completed have seen New Zealand's Harris, who has previously played in the World Cup of Darts, Australia's Gordon Mathers, America's Willard Bruguier, Japan's Seigo Asada, Croatia's Alan Ljubic and Ireland's William O'Connor secure their World Championship debuts.
Finland's Kim Viljanen has already qualified from the PDCNB Order of Merit, with a second qualifier from the final rankings to be confirmed on November 5.
Singapore's Paul Lim won the South & West Asia Qualifier recently, with the North & East Asia Qualifier to be held on October 28, which also sees the DPA Oceanic Masters take place in Australia.
2017/2018 William Hill World Darts Championship
International Qualifiers
Seigo Asada (Japan) - PDJ Japanese Qualifier
Willard Bruguier (USA) - North American Championship Winner
Cody Harris (New Zealand) - DPNZ Qualifier
Paul Lim (Singapore) - South & West Asia Qualifier
Alan Ljubic (Croatia) - East Europe Qualifier
Gordon Mathers (Australia) - DPA Order of Merit Winner
William O'Connor (Ireland) - Tom Kirby Memorial Irish Matchplay Champion
Devon Petersen (South Africa) - Highest placed African on PDC Order of Merit
Diogo Portela (Brazil) - South & Central American Qualifier
Krzysztof Ratajski (Poland) - Highest placed Eastern European on PDC Order of Merit
Jeff Smith (Canada) - NDFC Number One
Kim Viljanen (Finland) - PDCNB Qualifier
To be completed:
October 21 - Southern Europe Qualifier
October 22 - Russian Qualifier
October 28 - DPA Oceanic Masters, North & East Asia Qualifier
November 5 - Final PDCNB ranking event (second player qualifies alongside Kim Viljanen), final PDC Unicorn Development Tour events (DT Order of Merit winner qualifies), Chinese Qualifier
November 18 - German Qualifier
November 19 - Central Europe Qualifier
November 26 - PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship Final (winner qualifies)
November 27 - PDPA Qualifier (two players qualify)
The Grand Slam of Darts gets underway on Sky Sports next month as the best of the PDC compete against the best of the BDO - the action from the Wolverhampton Civic Hall begins on Saturday, November 11 with a double session.
Keep up to date with the news as the tungsten enters it's busiest time of year with the PDC World Championships just around the corner get all the latest at www.skysports.com/darts and join in the conversation @SkySportsDarts.
