People's Palace Primed For World Championship

THE biggest ever 2008 Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship begins on Monday night at London's Alexandra Palace.

The first four of 67 games will take place at 'The People's Palace' as the 12-day event begins.

St Helens' Alan Tabern, a quarter-finalist a year ago and the world number 18, kicks off the event against Danish qualifier Per Laursen.

Laursen impressed on his PDC World Championship debut 12 months ago, defeating Colin Monk in the first round before leading against two-time World Champion Dennis Priestley in the second before going down narrowly.

They will be followed on stage by rising star Adrian Gray, who has broken into the world's top 32 recently and takes on resurgent Mark Walsh, from Hertfordshire, in the second game of the tournament.

Wayne Mardle, three times a semi-finalist at the Circus Tavern, begins his bid to better that when he faces America's Ray Carver in the third game.

The final match of the evening sees former World Number One and 2002 semi-finalist Colin Lloyd up against PDPA Qualifier Mark Walsh.

The tournament sees a number of exciting new developments, including:

  • Live online streaming of the tournament for a first time through www.worldchampionshipdarts.tv
  • The largest ever stage set constructed for a darts tournament, built on a five foot high deck and 120 feet wide
  • Increased prize money to a record £605,000 - the largest in darts, with £100,000 to the champion
  • A record 19 countries represented at Alexandra Palace, including the Philippines, India and the Czech Republic for a first time
  • A brand new specially-commissioned trophy including a hand-engraved solid silver globe, produced by award-winning goldsmith & jeweller Mike Shorer.

    Coverage begins on Sky Sports at 7pm - don't miss the special opening to the show from Alexandra Palace.

    Click here for the 2008 Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship NetZone