The eyes of darts fans around the world will be on Leicester next week when the Darts World Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday the 3rd of October.
Last year, for reasons due to you know what, we were denied our annual trip to the Citywest in Dublin’s fair city and instead had to make do with the tourney taking place domestically behind closed doors at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
The prestigious double start tournament will see 32 stars of the PDC battle it out across seven days for the corporation’s third oldest title and its £450,000 in prize money. World Number One Gerwyn Price will be the defending champion at the Morningside Arena in the East Midlands city.
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The World Grand Prix Darts event began in 1998 and was designed to replace the previous World Pairs Tournament. Since 2000, it was held in Ireland right up until last year when, like many other events, it was switched to a domestic venue.
World Grand Prix winner could be a surprise
Heading into the 2021 renewal, there is an openness about darts right now that wasn’t there pre-pandemic and it really feels as though this year’s winner really can come from anywhere. Of course, that anywhere could very well be Wales. From there, after all, hails reigning Grand Prix champ, world champ and global numero uno Gerwyn ‘The Iceman’ Price and his countryman Jonny Clayton.
Last weekend, The Iceman helped himself to yet another title when he took down the Gibraltar Darts Trophy, not long after he lifted the first European Tour event of the year, the Hungary Darts Trophy, just weeks ago. He is very much the man to beat right now. As such, bet365 have priced him up as the 7/2 favourite to retain his title.
Has anyone in darts had as good of a year as Go Go Jonny the Ferret Clayton? The part-time plasterer for Carmarthenshire County Council is now the Darts Masters and Premier League of Darts champion, both of which he won after he, along with Price, won the 2020 Darts World Cup, an event which kicked the former Rugby player into new darting life.
Clayton now looks like a decent shout for any event he enters and because he is 13th on the Order of Merit, he can provide some pretty tasty prices too. bet365 has placed a rather generous 14/1 on his head which is not to be sniffed at.
Elsewhere, it would be unwise to rule out Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright, who has won the last two televised PDC events, albeit one in a two-player team tournament. That, of course, was the recent World Cup of Darts, which he took down with the help of big John ‘The Highlander’ Henderson, a win which came six weeks apart from the world number two’s excellent showing at the World Matchplay.
Ever the showman, Wright, perhaps more than anyone, has been transformed by having the fans back. World number two Snakebite has been priced up at 5/1 with bet365 to take down his third televised PDC title in a row.
As ever, a challenge is expected of the Green Machine, Mighty Michael van Gerwen who, after an astonishing 293 long and worrying days, has finally re-joined the ranks of the trophy winners after he claimed the Nordic Masters title a fortnight ago when he beat Fallon Sherrock in the final.
Not so very long ago Mighty Mike looked near invincible and a shoo-in for just about any tourney he entered. That has not been the case of late, but his recent win did come in the absence of Gerwyn Price, who pulled out of the tournament with an elbow injury. Had he been involved in the event, things could have been very different and MVG might still be waiting for a trophy win.
As we wind our way down towards the World Darts Championships in December, Mighty Mike will be looking to get himself back into that kind of form once again and this might well be the event to help him get there.
Another darter to keep an eye on over the week is Belgian sensation Dimitri van den Bergh. The 2020 Matchplay champion looked almost unstoppable when attempting to defend his crown in July. It’s crazy how many nine-dart finishes The Dream Maker almost posted as he broke averaging records at the time.
In the end, he was undone by some dodgy doubles and an even better Peter Wright. If Snakebite can summon similar levels in Leicester then he could well be your man once again.
World Grand Prix Schedule 2021
Sunday October 3
First Round (Best of three sets)
- Martijn Kleermaker v Mervyn King
- Dirk van Duijvenbode v Luke Humphries
- Stephen Bunting v Daryl Gurney
- Dave Chisnall v Mensur Suljovic
- Joe Cullen v Ross Smith
- James Wade v Damon Heta
- Gerwyn Price v Michael Smith
- Dimitri Van den Bergh v Ryan Searle
- Darius Labanauskas v Brendan Dolan
- Callan Rydz v Jonny Clayton
- Vincent van der Voort v Gabriel Clemens
- Nathan Aspinall v Krzysztof Ratajski
- Gary Anderson v Ian White
- Peter Wright v Rob Cross
- Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert
- Jose de Sousa v Glen Durrant
Monday October 4
First Round (Best of three sets)
- Darius Labanauskas v Brendan Dolan
- Callan Rydz v Jonny Clayton
- Vincent van der Voort v Gabriel Clemens
- Nathan Aspinall v Krzysztof Ratajski
- Gary Anderson v Ian White
- Peter Wright v Rob Cross
- Michael van Gerwen v Danny Noppert
- Jose de Sousa v Glen Durrant
Tuesday October 5
Second Round (Best of five sets)
- Four matches
Wednesday October 6
Second Round (Best of five sets)
- Four matches
Thursday October 7
Quarter-Finals (Best of five sets)
- Four matches
Friday October 8
Semi-Finals (Best of seven sets)
- Two matches
Saturday October 9
Final (Best of nine sets)
- One match
QUICK GLANCE AT THE 2021 WORLD GRAND PRIX DARTS
Venue: Morningside Arena, Leicester
Dates: 03/10/2021 – 09/10/2021
Format: Double start, best of three, five, seven and nine sets
Current Champion: Gerwyn Price
Where To Watch: Sky Sports
When To Watch: 1800 (UK)