Limerick arrowsmith William O'Connor learns draw for World Darts Championships

LIMERICK arrowsmith William O'Connor has learned the draw for the 2023/2024 Paddy Power World Darts Championship which begins in London next month.

Cappamore man O'Connor has been drawn against Bhav Patel, of India, in his opening round tie at London's Alexandra Palace.

Should the Limerick man come through that game, he would then meet England's Chris Dobey, the number 17th seed, in the second round.

The sport's flagship tournament will take place at London's Alexandra Palace from December 15-January 3.

96 players are competing to win the Sid Waddell Trophy and the stg£500,000 top prize. Total prize fund for this year's tournament, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, is stg£2.5 million.

Thirty seven-year-old William O'Connor, nicknamed The Magpie, is currently ranked number 38 in the world. 

The schedule of play for the championship will be confirmed in the coming days.

William O'Connor bowed out of the 2022/2023 World Darts Championship at the second round stage at the 'Ally Pally' when losing out to Gabriel Clemens, of Germany.

O'Connor had produced a classy display to defeat teenage trailblazer Beau Greaves 3-0 in his opening round game.

2019 World Cup finalist O'Connor reached the third round of the World Darts Championship the previous year before losing out 4-2 to current world champion, Michael 'Bully Boy' Smith, of England.

2023/24 Paddy Power World Darts Championship

Draw Bracket - Second Round Onwards

(1) Michael Smith v Kevin Doets/Stowe Buntz
(32) Madars Razma v Mike De Decker/Dragutin Horvat
(16) Ross Smith v Niels Zonneveld/Darren Webster
(17) Chris Dobey v William O'Connor/Bhav Patel
(8) Rob Cross v Mario Vandenbogaerde/Thibault Tricole
(25) Jose de Sousa v Ritchie Edhouse v Jeffrey de Graaf
(9) Jonny Clayton v Steve Lennon/Owen Bates
(24) Krzysztof Ratajski v Jamie Hughes/David Cameron
(4) Peter Wright v Jim Williams/Norman Madhoo
(29) Raymond van Barneveld v Radek Szaganski/Marko Kantele
(13) James Wade v Matt Campbell/Lourence Ilagan
(20) Andrew Gilding v Christian Kist/Luke Littler
(5) Gerwyn Price v Connor Scutt/Krzysztof Kciuk
(28) Brendan Dolan v Mickey Mansell/Xiaochen Zong
(12) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Keegan Brown/Boris Krcmar
(21) Gary Anderson v Simon Whitlock/Paolo Nebrida
(2) Michael van Gerwen v Keane Barry/Reynaldo Rivera
(31) Kim Huybrechts v Richard Veenstra/Ben Robb
(15) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Dylan Slevin/Florian Hempel
(18) Stephen Bunting v Ryan Joyce/Alex Spellman
(7) Danny Noppert v Scott Williams/Haruki Muramatsu
(26) Martin Schindler v Jermaine Wattimena/Fallon Sherrock
(10) Damon Heta v Martin Lukeman/Haupai Puha
(23) Josh Rock v Luke Woodhouse/Berry van Peer
(3) Luke Humphries v Lee Evans/Sandro Eric Sosing
(30) Callan Rydz v Ricardo Pietreczko/Mikuru Suzuki
(14) Joe Cullen v Jules van Dongen/Darren Penhall
(19) Ryan Searle v Ian White/Tomoya Goto
(6) Nathan Aspinall v Ricky Evans/Simon Adams
(27) Daryl Gurney v Steve Beaton/Wessel Nijman
(11) Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies/Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
(22) Gabriel Clemens v Gian van Veen/Man Lok Leung