Luke Humphries will face Stephen Bunting in the opening match of the World Grand Prix; the 2024 World Grand Prix takes place in Leicester from October 7-13 live on Sky Sports; 32 of world's top stars compete for coveted title won by Humphries last year
Monday 30 September 2024 17:56, UK
Luke Humphries will begin his defence of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix title against Stephen Bunting, with the draw for the double-start event now confirmed.
Humphries, who claimed his maiden televised ranking title at this event 12 months ago, will renew his rivalry against Masters champion Bunting - a two-time World Grand Prix semi-finalist.
The unique double-start event, which will be played at Leicester's Mattioli Arena from October 7-13 and is live on Sky Sports, will see a star-studded line-up battling it out across seven days of action in the East Midlands.
Luke Littler will be one of five debutants in the 32-player field, and the Premier League champion opens his title challenge with a showdown against fourth seed Rob Cross.
World No 2 Michael Smith will play 2016 finalist Gary Anderson in another blockbuster tussle, as six-time winner Michael van Gerwen faces 2017 champion Daryl Gurney.
Peter Wright, the 2018 runner-up, kicks off his campaign against two-time champion James Wade, while 2020 winner Gerwyn Price locks horns with Dutch No 2 Danny Noppert.
Jonny Clayton, the 2021 champion, will meet debutant Ritchie Edhouse for a place in round two, as two-time finalist Dave Chisnall goes up against another newcomer Cameron Menzies.
Fifth seed Nathan Aspinall - a runner-up in 2022 - makes his big-stage return against Ryan Searle, with Chris Dobey and Joe Cullen set to collide in a repeat of their quarter-final tie 12 months ago.
Former finalists Raymond van Barneveld and Brendan Dolan will take on German duo Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Schindler respectively, as emerging Dutchman Gian van Veen plays world No 10 Ross Smith.
UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh meets Luke Woodhouse, with Van den Bergh's compatriot Mike de Decker handed an opening round assignment against Australian No 1 Damon Heta.
Northern Ireland's Josh Rock has been pitted against the returning Ryan Joyce, with the winner advancing to a second-round clash against Aspinall or Searle.
The first round will be played across the first two days of action on October 7-8.
In a change to last year's format, Saturday's semi-finals on October 12 will be contested over the best-of-nine sets, with the final set to be played over the best-of-11 sets on Sunday October 13.
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