Ryan hits the bullseye with a path to MVG
Murray drawn with No.1 man
SCOTTISH darts star Ryan Murray is in line for a dream Alexandra Palace date with Michael van Gerwen.
The Edinburgh ace has been set-up to face the World No.1 at the William Hill World Championships as countryman and defending champ Peter Wright could have a tricky opening- night encounter against dangerous Steve West.
Murray’s name came out of the pot for the big one in a tie against Philippines qualifier Lourence Ilagan with the winner then meeting Van Gerwen in front of 1 000 fans at the London venue after PDC chiefs were given the go-ahead to have spectators attend.
Wright opens his bid for back-to-back titles against either Englishman West or Indian No.1 Amit Gilitwala.
The Scot claimed his maiden World Championship triumph in January, defeating van Gerwen before emotionally lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy, and will get the tournament started on Tuesday week.
Wright said: “It’s brilliant that we will have fans at Ally Pally this year. It took me a while to get used to playing with no crowd and it was great having them back in Germany and Austria.
“Having a crowd spurred me on to win the European Championship. Hopefully, it will be the same with the World Championship.”
S c o t l an d ’ s two- tim e champion Gary Anderson plays Latvia’s Madars Razma or Japan’s Toru Suzuki in his opening match, while John Henderson faces up to Marko Kentele with Wales’ World Cup winner Jonny Clayton awaiting the victor.
The Highlander said: “I know it’s a cliche but there really aren’t any easy draws. Every player has looked at who they’ve got and thought, ‘That’s tough.’
“The standard is so high now from all over the world. I think possibly the only bonus is that I know who I’m playing and it’s not an unknown quantity.
“I played Marko a few years ago and won quite comfortably. I’ve seen him play a few times and seen his results since and he’s improved, so it’ll be tricky. But I’m happy with the draw.
“I know Jonny is a tough draw. But he’ll probably be thinking the same about me. The early matches on a short format are possibly the trickiest.
“Maybe I get an advantage that I will have played on stage that night before taking on Jonny, if I get past Marko of course. He’ll be going in cold.”