PDC WDC round 1 afternoon session: Highlander, The Spider star

Holly Thackeray | December 17, 2015

Day 2: First round afternoon session plus preliminary action

Highlander and The Spider highlights on second day

The 2016 PDC World Darts Championship presents its first full decadent day of dedicated darts on Friday, after Thursday evening’s openers, with two terrific sessions of tungsten action to enjoy.

Here, Coral experts preview the first exciting afternoon session, which runs from 13:10 to 17:00 GMT before a two-hour break, but don’t forget to check out our thoughts on the evening session also, with the oche event re-starting at 19:10, leaving plenty of time for dinner.

Preliminary round (best of three sets, no tie-break)

Qiang Sun v Mick McGowan

Friday throws up another fascinating pairing, with these two arrowsmiths yet to meet each other, which highlights the diversity of darting match-ups this tournament can offer.

Chinese star Sun is somewhat of an unknown quantity but, having won the recent PDC World China Qualifying Event, is 5/2 to use this, and his dark horse status, as an advantage.

Irish opponent McGowan (odds-on at 2/7) is more tempting at even-money to whitewash Sun 2-0, however, as The Magnet has played on this stage twice before, both times reaching the final 32.

First round

John Henderson v Darren Webster

Now this should be a contest. On their day fan hero Highlander and Demolition Man (evens) can conquer almost anyone, or at least prove tricky thorns in the sides of the elite.

Yet, this time the plucky pair face each other, with Webster even-money to take the match, as he holds a 3-1 head-to-head record over 4/5 favourite Henderson. Though, the Scotsman recently reached the European Championship quarter-finals, so is tasty at 10/3 for a 3-1 win.

Justin Pipe v Christian Kist

Famous slow thrower Pipe is odds-on 4/6 for victory against Kist, who he defeated in their only meeting thus far, back in 2014.

The Force may have been with Pipe, who has last 16 pedigree in this competition, in that previous encounter, although Kist (6/5) as a former BDO world champion, could be an intriguing punt to get further in this PDC edition.

Mark Webster v Sun/McGowan

Webster must wait until last to face one of preliminary round foes Sun or McGowan in his first round fixture, though neither should pose The Spider, who is notably opportunistic and fresh from ousting world champion Gary Anderson from the Grand Slam of Darts, any problems.

Related

Darts mad? So are we! Read more on the World Championship on our darts page.

Coral’s top tip: Take a punt on Kist at 6/5 to push past Pipe.