Draw released for 2021 World Grand Prix: Defending champion Price to face Smith, Wright set for Cross clash

The draw has been released ahead of the 2021 World Grand Prix which is set to take place between October 3-9 and is the next major tournament on the calendar.

Set for a new temporary home of the Morningside Arena in Leicester, home of the Champions League of Darts previously as well as British Basketball giants Leicester Riders.

This is due to the Citywest being out of action as a hospital for Covid-19 patients once more with no Dublin date set this year.

It sees Gerwyn Price as defending champion after defeating Dirk van Duijvenbode last year in red hot form after winning back-to-back titles on the European Tour.

He faces a high scoring affair against Michael Smith set to catch the eye. He is top seed as World Number One, while Peter Wright faces Rob Cross in another top tie.

Michael van Gerwen survived a real scare in a brilliant tie with Danny Noppert over the weekend in Gibraltar and the Dutch duo will lock horns again in the opening round.

Other ties to watch include the aforementioned finalist last year Van Duijvenbode facing Luke Humphries, Premier League champion Jonny Clayton taking on Callan Rydz, Dimitri van den Bergh facing Ryan Searle and Gary Anderson set for a clash with Ian White.

As usual it is the famous double in double out format with the schedule to be confirmed in due course.

2021 World Grand Prix Draw

(1) Gerwyn Price v Michael Smith

Martijn Kleermaker v Mervyn King

(8) Dave Chisnall v Mensur Suljovic

Joe Cullen v Ross Smith

(4) James Wade v Damon Heta

Stephen Bunting v Daryl Gurney

(5) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Ryan Searle

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Luke Humphries

(2) Peter Wright v Rob Cross

Nathan Aspinall v Krzysztof Ratajski

(7) Jose de Sousa v Glen Durrant

Callan Rydz v Jonny Clayton

(3) Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert

Vincent van der Voort v Gabriel Clemens

(6) Gary Anderson v Ian White

Darius Labanauskas v Brendan Dolan