Northern Ireland quartet learn fate as World Darts Championship draw is confirmed
Four players from Northern Ireland have learned their fate as the draw was made for this year's World Darts Championship.
The draw, which was conducted live on Sky Sports News by Wayne Mardle, Mark Webster and Emma Paton, sees the top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit seeded through to round two.
18th seed Josh Rock will face the winner of the opening round clash between Karel Sedlacek and Rhys Griffin.
Mickey Mansell, who recently had a dream run to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts, will meet Tomoya Goto in the first round. The winner will then face 7th seed Jonny Clayton.
Londonderry's Daryl Gurney seeded 26th is set to lock horns against the winner of Florian Hempel and Jeffrey De Zwaan.
Finally, County Fermanagh's Brendan Dolan has been paired with whoever comes through the first round tie between Chris Landman and Lok Yin Lee.
Elsewhere, reigning champion Luke Humphries begins the defence of his title by playing the winner of Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito in the first round.
He has been placed in the same half of the draw as teenage sensation Luke Littler, which puts them on course for a semi-final meeting.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven will make history as the first transgender player to play on the Alexandra Palace stage.
The Dutchwoman, who receives hostility from fellow players on the Women’s Series, will play Kevin Doets in the first round.
The 2024/25 Paddy Power World Darts Championship will take place at London's Alexandra Palace from December 15-January 3, and the schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.