Jonny Clayton kicked off his Darts World Cup campaign with a 4-1 win over Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas in Group C alongside new partner Nick Kenny.
Gerwyn Price and Clayton won the World Cup twice as a pair for Wales, but with Price unable to start for the second time in three years, Kenny joined ‘The Ferret’ as the seventh seed.
It was Clayton who used his experience and big 146 checkouts to lead the team to victory and finish as a top, top finisher.
“I enjoyed every minute of it. Like I said, you won’t find anyone more passionate than this guy,” Clayton said.
“He is fantastic. It means everything to him to have him in a Wales shirt. There are two of us in the Wales team.
“If we put this on, that’s it. As a Welshman, as a proud Welshman, don’t turn down the opportunity to wear a Wales shirt. There will be more to come from us.”
german Martin Schindler and Riccardi Pietrecko began their demolition work in Group A with a 4-0 win over Philippines’ Alexis Toilo and Paolo Nebrida.
The fifth-seeded German made a statement with his opening performance and average of 101.9 by knocking out England’s Luke Littler and Luke Humphries in the second round of 2025, with the pair clicking once again despite ‘Pikachu”s recent pitching issues.
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Phuay Wei Tan kicks off the World Cup in Singapore with a big fish in the opening game!
Irish Willie O’Connor and Mickey Mansell, who became the first players to represent two countries at a Darts World Cup after switching sides from Northern Ireland, cruised to a 4-1 win over Singapore’s Paul Lim and Phuay-Wei Tan in Group D.
Tan, a team-mate of the legendary 72-year-old Lim, started the contest by whipping Big Fish in the opening leg, but that was the only highlight for Singapore as Ireland’s O’Connor was on fire and led his team to take four legs with a 122 checkout en route.
In what was promoted ‘Sky Sports Darts’ John Part is ‘Group of Death’, american Stowe Buntz and Adam Sevada recorded a monumental 4-3 win over Australia’s Damon Heta and Adam Leek in Group G.
Australia came from behind to win 3-3, but failed to cross the deciding line.
hong kong Man Lok Leung and Lok Yin Lee pulled off a comeback with a 4-2 win over Group B’s sixth seeds Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh.
Both Belgian players have had difficult individual campaigns on the PDC circuit, but say they will start 2026 with this World Cup after failing to complete a comeback from a 3-0 defeat.
What else happened?
japan Group K kicked off with a thrilling 6-5 final win over Croatia’s Boris Krcmar and Pero Ljubic.
Ally Pally cult heroes Motomu Sakai and Haruki Muramatsu battled back to make it 2-2, with the latter shooting an 81 at Bullseye to finish D12.
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Motomu Sakai enters Japan’s first World Cup match as a signature bizarre walk-on to kick off the tournament!
9th seed Polandrepresented by Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki recorded a 4-1 win over Luis Camacho and Jose de Sousa in Group E in Portugal.
The pair are considered dark horses in this tournament thanks to their recent form, and they showed why with their ridiculous wins.
In group I austrian Mensur Suljovic and Rusty-Jake Rodriguez recorded a comprehensive 4-1 win over China’s Qingyu Zhan and Xiaochen Zong.
Meanwhile, in group H czech The pair of Karel Sedlacek and Adam Gawlas opened their campaign with a 4-0 thumping of India’s Nitin Kumar and Ankit Goenka.
finnish Jani Habisto and Jonas Masalin went from 2-0 down to 3-3 down before ultimately losing 4-3 against Norway’s Kor Dekker and Kent Sibersen in their Group L opener.
swedish Jeffrey de Graaf and Oskar Lukasiak got off to a good start in Group F with a tough 4-2 win over South Africa’s Devon Petersen and Graham Filby.
In group J Latvian Duo Madars Razma and Valters Melderis stood firm and secured a 4-2 win over Italy’s Michele Turretta and Riccardo Castelli.
What’s next?
The group stage continues until Friday afternoon and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 11am.
The action continues on Friday afternoon, with the group stage being broadcast live on Sky Sports from 11am. The group stage ends live on Friday evening from 6 p.m.
The top four ranked countries based on the lowest cumulative PDC ranking of the two competing players will be seeded and advance to the final 16.
Who will win this year’s Darts World Cup? Northern Ireland are set to defend their title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports from 11-14 June. Stream darts and other top sports with NOW.
