PDC World Cup

[stereoman]

The seeds are out but the draw isn't yet: England (1) - Phil Taylor & James Wade Netherlands (2) - Raymond van Barneveld & Co Stompe Australia (3) - Simon Whitlock & Paul Nicholson Scotland (4) - Gary Anderson & Robert Thornton Wales (5) - Mark Webster & Barrie Bates Northern Ireland (6) - Brendan Dolan & John MaGowan Canada (7) - John Part & Ken MacNeil USA (8) - Darin Young & Bill Davis Top eight nations automatically qualify for the second round Ireland (9) - Mick McGowan & William O'Connor Germany (10) - Jyhan Artut & Andree Welge Spain (11) - Carlos Rodriguez & Antonio Alcinas Finland (12) - Jarkko Komula & Marko Kantele New Zealand (13) - Phillip Hazel & Warren Parry Austria (14) - Mensur Suljovic & Maik Langendorf Sweden (15) - Magnus Caris & Par Riihonen Russia (16) - Anastasia Dobromyslova & Roman Konchikov Gibraltar (17) - Dylan Duo & Dyson Parody Slovenia (18) - Osmann Kijamet & Sebastijan Pecjak Denmark (19) - Per Laursen & Vladimiar Andersen Poland (20) - Krzystof Kciuk & Krzsystof Ratajski Belgium (21) - Patrick Bulen & Rocco Maes Japan (22) - Haruki Muramatsu & Taro Yachi Czech Republic (23) - Martin Kapucian & Pavel Drtil Slovakia (24) - Peter Martin & Oto Zmelik http://www.pdc.tv/page/PDCWorldCupArticle/0,,10180~2198196,00.html Think the way the seedings have been done the first round matches are: * Ireland vs. Slovakia * Germany vs. Czech Republic * Spain vs. Japan * Finland vs. Belgium * New Zealand vs. Poland * Austria vs. Denmark * Sweden vs. Slovenia * Russia vs. Gibraltar OT: The Jocky Wilson Cup was a bit of a failure and this is what has replaced it. Very ambitious but it's over three days and on Sky Sports on December 3rd-5th. Would a Ryder Cup type of event work better or is Uncle Barry trying to think of the 'big picture' by getting as many countries interested as possible? I do think a 'UK & Ireland vs. the Rest of the World' tournament would perhaps be more interesting as some type of competitive contest (if it's anything other than an England win in the inaugural PDC World Cup, I would be surprised!). I'd propose that both would have eight-man teams but have no more than two representatives from each country so I'd imagine these lot would get invited: * Phil Taylor, James Wade, Gary Anderson, Mark Webster, Robert Thornton, Barrie Bates, Brendan Dolan, William O'Connor. * Raymond van Barneveld, Simon Whitlock, Paul Nicholson, Co Stompe, John Part, Darin Young, Jyhan Artut, Anastasia Dobromyslova (y'know she'd be invited!). Wouldn't mind seeing them introduce other games such as cricket or make it a bit different such as having to 'double-start' (as is mandatory in the World Grand Prix) to try and change things up a bit instead of just 501. There isn't really much room in 'team darts' for variation apart from 'alternative throw' is there?

[PerryPFC]

Re: PDC World Cup For 17th seeds, Gibraltar are a good pair, I think if you looked back over some pro tour events they'd've had some good results. Might be some value in a handicap type bet against a bigger country, presuming they beat russia they could run a top 8 team close IMO.