2021 PDC World Darts Championship schedule: Thursday December 17, afternoon session including Daryl Gurney

What will Thursday afternoon provide at the PDC World Darts Championship?

A bit of Asian flair, for one - we kick off with three ties all featuring stars from the Far East. It's an odd situation for Japan, as neither of their World Cup representatives have qualified for the World Championship.

It's not Seigo Asada and Yuki Yamada, or even Haruki Muramatsu, who will show up at the Alexandra Palace. First up from the Japanese duo taking part is Toru Suzuki. He'll face Latvia's leading light, Madars Razma, with a game against Gary Anderson the glittering prize at stake. Well, the extra £7,500 earned for winning helps towards the plane journey home too.

Edward Foulkes, like Toru Suzuki, will make his big stage debut on the very biggest stage of them all. He swept the PDJ Japanese Championship in style, seeing off big names in Mikuru Suzuki and Seigo Asada along the way.

Mike de Decker is, of course, the favourite for this one. As well as having more experience and familiarity with stages like this, the Belgian has shown some flashes of quality over the year. This is also his first time at the World Championship - the Real Deal will be hoping for the ideal birthday present, two days after turning 25.

If you had to back any international qualifier to do well at the Alexandra Palace, Lourence Ilagan would be right up there. High quality, composure, occasional antics - the Filipino ace has got it all. The only thing he hasn't done yet is actually get the results on this stage.

Ilagan will feel like he can do just that here, though Ryan Murray will be up for it too. The Scot has had a decent enough first year on the Pro Tour, and gets to cap it off with a first try at the World Championship. The second round tie for the winner is no biggie, against some fella called Michael van Gerwen.

It says a lot that, when the runners and riders for the 2021 PDC World Darts Championship have been tipped, backed and pored over, nobody's looking at Daryl Gurney. He came into last year's tournament as the sixth seed, and now is barely a dark horse. 2020 has been rotten to Superchin. It could still end better, however, with Gurney having the chance to cast all those doubts aside.

His first test is a nasty one, with William O'Connor hopeful of sealing a third round berth against Chris Dobey. The Irishman wasn't great against Niels Zonneveld, but did enough to stroll through without an issue. He hasn't given his best at the World Championship yet - what a time this would be to crack out the A-game.

12:10 Madars Razma v Toru Suzuki (R1)

13:10 Mike De Decker v Edward Foulkes (R1)

14:10 Ryan Murray v Lourence Ilagan (R1)

15:10 Daryl Gurney v William O’Connor (R2)