Day One at Ally Pally

Five matches take place from the Alexandra Palace on Friday in the PDC World Darts

Championship. Reigning champion Adrian Lewis in action in the defence of the crown he won 12 months ago against Andy Hamilton in the final.
Andree Welge and Leung Chung Nam square up for battle of the oche in the opening match of the night in the preliminary round. The winner will earn the chance to meet the Artist Kevin Painter later
in the evening in the first round proper.
Then it is the chance for either Robert Thornton or Magnus Caris to try and become to the first man to reach the second round of the draw. The Scot has had the best season of his career so far by winning the UK Open earlier in the year in Bolton where he defeated Phil Taylor in the final. He has though, never been past the third round of the World Championship in two attempts. There is money to be made betting on darts if you back him to make it through for the first time.
Paul Nicholson takes on Dutchman Co Stompe in what looks to be one of the ties of the opening round. The Australian is the seeded player and reached the quarter-final in this competition in 2009. Last year he was eliminated by Kim Huybrechts in the third round. Stompe also knows all about reaching the last eight of this tournament. He did so in 2009 and 2010. However, his form has dipped in the last couple of years, in particular during this season where he has failed to make an impact in any of the premier events.
If Lewis, favourite in the Betfair Darts markets, can beat Vos and go on to win this tournament once again, he will be only the second player in the history of the competition to win three consecutive titles.