TWO-TIME winners England, host nation Germany, Spain and Japan kicked off the bwin World Cup of Darts with whitewash victories at the Eissporthalle in Germany on Thursday night.

THE bwin World Cup of Darts kicks off on Thursday night, as 32 nations bid to claim the title in the annual Pairs tournament at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt.

THE qualification criteria for the 2015 SINGHA Beer Grand Slam of Darts has been confirmed, with 24 PDC stars set to be joined by eight BDO players in this year's tournament in Wolverhampton.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION, schedule of play and fixtures for the 2015 bwin World Cup of Darts.

THE race to claim places in the BetVictor World Matchplay looks set to go to the wire - with Kyle Anderson's run in the Dutch Darts Masters seeing him close in on a ProTour Order of Merit qualification place.

HARUKI MURAMATSU, Morihiro Hashimoto and Sho Katsumi will be amongst the eight home hopefuls competing in the Zipang Casino Japan Darts Masters later this month.

STEPHEN BUNTING showed off his singing ability as he thrilled 4,500 fans with a karaoke rendition of Spandau Ballet's hit song "Gold" at the Dutch Darts Masters.

THE bwin World Cup of Darts will enjoy greater worldwide live coverage than ever when the 32-nation event takes place this weekend in Frankfurt.

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN won his fourth successive PDC European Tour event of 2015 with an incredible display to claim the Dutch Darts Masters title in Venray, ruthlessly whitewashing Justin Pipe in the final.

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN averaged 114.70 as he marched into the Dutch Darts Masters quarter-finals - full third round round-up here.