Schedule Monday night at World Grand Prix including Price, Michael Smith, Anderson, Van Barneveld and Aspinall

The battle for the title at the World Grand Prix explodes into life on Monday night in Leicester. A field of 32 players will start the unique double-in double-out tournament.

It is a tournament that because of its format is often full of surprises, especially in the first rounds. On Monday night the first sixteen players will try to secure a spot in the last sixteen.

In the opening match, former finalist Dirk van Duijvenbode will take on Brendan Dolan. It is a match between two players where the highlight of their careers both took place at the World Grand Prix. Dolan threw a nine darter during the 2011 edition and also reached the final during that edition, which he lost to Phil Taylor. Van Duijvenbode reached the final match at the World Grand Prix in 2020 and after a defeat against Gerwyn Price also finished runner-up.

Raymond van Barneveld is the second Dutchman who will make an appearance. The five-time world champion will make his first appearance at the World Grand Prix since 2018 against Martin Schindler, Gerwyn Price too is set to begin his campaign and faces off against Danny Noppert.

In addition, there are five other great matches on Monday night. Gary Anderson showed last week with a Players Championship title that he should also be reckoned with at the double-in double-out tournament. 'The Flying Scotsman will meet Jose de Sousa in the first round. Another interesting match is the showdown between Krzysztof Ratajski and James Wade.

Reigning World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall begins his tournament against Stephen Bunting, while world number one Michael Smith takes on Callan Rydz. The reigning world champion hasn't had this tournament as a happy hunting ground in the past. Smith lost in the first round in eight of his 10 previous appearances. The final match of the evening is between Rob Cross and Andrew Gilding.

The event will be broadcast in its entirety by Sky Sports. The first two tournament days start at 6 p.m.. Then there are three tournament days starting at 19:00 before the sessions on the final weekend start at 20:00.

The prize fund includes £600,000 in prize money. This makes the prize fund now almost sixteen times larger than when the tournament started in 1998. Back then, "only" £38,000 was made available by the PDC.

All participants will receive 7,500 pounds of prize money credited to their ranking anyway. This amount can eventually add up to a grand prize of £120,000 for the winner of the tournament.

Dirk van Duijvenbode v Brendan Dolan

Jose de Sousa v Gary Anderson

Krzysztof Ratajski v James Wade

Martin Schindler v Raymond van Barneveld

Nathan Aspinall v Stephen Bunting

Gerwyn Price v Danny Noppert

Michael Smith v Callan Rydz

Rob Cross v Andrew Gilding