Luke Littler is gearing up for his first defense of the PDC World Darts Championship against Darius Labanauskas at Alexandra Palace next month. The draw for the tournament took place on Monday afternoon.
The 18-year-old claimed the 2025 world champion title by defeating Michael van Gerwen at Ally Pally in January. Following this victory, Littler has secured wins at the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, and Players Championship, among other accolades.
Recently ascending to the world No.1 spot, Littler is in superb form as he prepares to defend his World Championship title in the upcoming tournament. His first-round opponent will be Lithuanian top player Labanauskas.
In other matchups, Luke Humphries will face Ted Evetts, Michael van Gerwen will take on Mitsohiko Tatsunami, and Beau Greaves is scheduled to compete against Daryl Gurney in the initial rounds.
The 2026 PDC World Championship will feature a total of 128 players, with the following being the first-round matchups:
– Luke Littler vs Darius Labanauskas
– Mario Vandenbogaerde vs David Davies
– Joe Cullen vs Bradley Brooks
– Mensur Suljovic vs David Cameron
– Damon Heta vs Steve Lennon
– Raymond van Barneveld vs Stefan Bellmont
– Rob Cross vs Cor Dekker
– Ian White vs Mervyn King
– Chris Dobey vs Xiaochen Zong
– Andrew Gilding vs Cam Crabtree
– Luke Woodhouse vs Boris Krcmar
– Martin Lukeman vs Max Hopp
– Gerwyn Price vs Adam Gawlas
– Lukas Wenig vs Wesley Plaisier
– Ryan Joyce vs Owen Bates
– Krzysztof Ratajski vs Alexis Toylo
– Stephen Bunting vs Sebastian Bialecki
– Richard Veenstra vs Nitin Kumar
– Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Andy Baetens
– James Hurrell vs Stowe Buntz
– Martin Schindler vs Stephen Burton
– Keane Barry vs Tim Pusey
– Ryan Searle vs Chris Landman
– Brendan Dolan vs Travis Dudeney
– Jonny Clayton vs Adam Lipscombe
– Dom Taylor vs Oskar Lukasiak
– Michael Smith vs Lisa Ashton
– Niels Zonneveld vs Haupai Puha
– Ross Smith vs Andreas Harrysson
– Thibault Tricole vs Motomu Sakai
– Dave Chisnall vs Fallon Sherrock
– Ricardo Pietreczko vs Jose De Sousa
– Luke Humphries vs Ted Evetts
– Jeffrey de Graaf vs Paul Lim
– Wessel Nijman vs Karel Sedlacek
– Mickey Mansell vs Leonard Gates
– Mike De Decker vs David Munyua
– Kevin Doets vs Matthew Dennant
– James Wade vs Ryusei Azemoto
– Ricky Evans vs Man Lok Leung
– Cameron Menzies vs Charlie Manby
– Matt Campbell vs Adam Sevada
– Gian van Veen vs Cristo Reyes
– Alan Soutar vs Teemu Harju
– Dimitir van den Bergh vs Darren Beveridge
– Madars Razma vs Jamai van den Herik
– Michael van Gerwen vs Mitsohiko Tatsunami
– William O’Connor vs Krzysztof Kciuk
– Peter Wright vs Noa-Lynn van Leuven
– Kim Huybrechtes vs Arno Merk
– Gary Anderson vs Adam Hunt
– Connor Scutt vs Simon Whitlock
– Jermaine Wattimena vs Dominik Gruellich
– Scott Williams vs Paolo Nebrida
– Danny Noppert vs Jurjen van der Velde
– Nick Kenny vs Justin Hood
– Ritchie Edhouse vs Jonny Tata
– Ryan Meikle vs Jesus Salate
– Josh Rock vs Gemma Hayter
– Niko Springer vs Joe Comito
– Daryl Gurney vs Beau Greaves
– Callan Rydz vs Patrik Kovacs
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