Preview Friday at WDF World Championship at Lakeside: defending champion Shane McGuirk in action on opening night

At Lakeside Country Club, the WDF World Cup gets underway tonight. The tournament spans 10 days and next Sunday both the Men's, Women's and Youth finals will take place.

The highlight to open the WDF World Championship is that we are looking forward to is Shane McGuirk. The Irishman captured the world title last year by defeating living legend Paul Lim in the final. McGuirk will take on Finland's Petri Rasmus in his opening match. All matches on opening night, by the way, will be played to best-of-5 sets.

Dennis Nilsson reached the semifinals at the 2023 WDF World Cup, which he lost 5-2 to later world champion Andy Baetens. Last year, he stranded at the last 32 after a 3-2 defeat against Gary Stone. The Swede - a past participant in "strongest man" competitions, meets Shane Sakchekapo in his opening match. For the Canadian, it will be his debut at a World Cup. Both men have also never played against each other before.

Next it is the turn of Alex Williams and Romeo Grbavac to take the stage. Williams is making his debut at this year's WDF World Cup. The 28-year-old Welshman had a stable season on the WDF Tour and managed to qualify directly for this World Championship. Grbavac, on the other hand, had to pass via the qualifying tournament. The 31-year-old Croatian does have some experience at the highest level, as he already took part in the PDC World Darts Championship and also competed at the World Cup of Darts.

A mistake in the draw makes this a very special match. Both ladies will first play a preliminary round against each other to determine who will effectively face Priscilla Steenbergen in the first round. Mayumi Ouchi has participated in the WDF World Cup twice before, a second round in 2024 was her best performance. Nina Lech-Musialska is making her debut at a World Cup this year.

Cliff Prior recently won the World Open, a 'Golden' tournament, and with it the Englishman qualified directly for the WDF World Championship. For Prior it will be his second consecutive participation in the WDF World Championship, last year he stranded in the second round. Clint Clarkson, who qualified through the Canadian ranking, will make his debut at a World Championship this year.

Kevin Luke against Sybren Gijbels will be a replay of their duel in the first round last year. Back then, Gijbels prevailed 2-1. The Belgian was originally not seeded for this year's edition, but due to the cancellation of Jeff Smith, he was called up after all. Gijbels eventually reached the third round last year, in which he lost 3-0 to Jason Brandon. Luke will be there for the third time at the WDF World Championship, never having made it past the first round.

At age 62, Vince Tipple is making his debut at a World Championship this year. The Englishman will take on Haruki Muramatsu. For the Japanese player it will be his first appearance at Lakeside, but he has already played five times at the PDC World Darts Championship. However, he never made it past the opening round.

The evening will be closed by the reigning world champion. Shane McGuirk was a relatively unknown name until last year's World Championship, but with impressive play he captured his first world title. The 30-year-old Irishman only narrowly missed qualifying for the PDC World Darts Championship this year and therefore defends his title at Lakeside. The Arrow meets Petri Rasmus in his opening match. The Finn makes his World Championship debut this year.