Darts today: New Year's Day matches and order of play including Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright

It's quarter-finals day at the World Darts Championship

By: irishmirror.ie

Jan 01 2025
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Darts today: New Year's Day ma

The World Darts Championship quarter-finals take place on New Year's Day as some of the biggest names in the game aim to make it to the last four of the tournament.

Luke Littler's clash with Nathan Aspinall is the last of Wednesday's four clashes, while former world champions Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen are both in action during the afternoon session.

Littler remains the favourite to land the title at Alexandra Palace but will have his work cut out with Aspinall. Littler was made to sweat as he made it through the last round but several of the big hitters remain and are also in action, reports The Mirror.

Price will open things up in London when he takes on Chris Dobey whilst Dutchman Van Gerwen will face Callan Rydz, who beat Robert Owen in the last round.

Peter Wright, who took out defending champion Luke Humphries in the last round after a war of words, has claimed that Rydz should be the favourite at the championship. "I want to play like Callan Rydz,"he said. "He should be favourite for this tournament. He's playing superb darts and long may it carry on."

Van Gerwen has laughed off that suggestion and remains on course to meet Littler in the final. "He's always allowed to talk crap," he said following Wright's comments. "No one takes him serious on the tour as well because he's not allowed an opinion at home."

Littler has come out and claimed that he feels some of his rivals are jealous of his success, despite his profile helping them financially.

"I don't know. I'd probably say some players do show it, mainly on the pro tour," he said. "But I've seen Scott Williams' interview - he's getting sponsorship opportunities, people asking him because of myself. So it's good to see what I've done, especially for the players and whatever sponsors they can get."

Littler is confident he can see off Aspinall to make the last four - referencing his strong record. "It's going to be tough," he said. "But I've won most of them. Nathan's only got one win over me. It's good to get the wins over Nathan. But it's the last eight of the World Championship and anyone can win on the day."

Wright and Stephen Bunting will be the opening game of the evening session with the two-time champion more than happy to talk the talk. So far he's backing that up on the oche. He was adamant he could compete with Humphries and Littler before beating the former.