Earlier today the PDC confirmed the 40 nations competing in the 2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts along with the majority of players representing them.
In recent weeks the England partnership has caused some debate online as people realised that Luke Littler would not qualify to represent England due to his ranking position in the PDC Order of Merit.
Pairings are typically decided by a player’s Order of Merit position which is based on earnings over the previous two years.
**Earnings tend to go hand in hand with Major competitions wins and placements so the players at the top win (or place highly) in the biggest tournament.
The big tournaments have larger prize money so if you win these tournaments and earn the most then theoretically, you’re the better player the more you win and earn (and higher you rank on the OOM).
This is sound logic and a fair and unbiased way of deciding who should represent their country based on professional ranking.
It takes out any personal bias or opinion and more often than not people tend to agree with higher placements being a better player because we see them winning big tournaments more frequently.
The issue this year though is once again the Littler effect…
Smith & Humphries Confirmed to Represent England as Luke Littler Misses Out
People have recently been calling for Littler to be paired with Humphries (World Number 1 and undisputed pick) to represent England at the upcoming World Cup of Darts.
This is unsurprisingly due to his incredible form and consistency since finishing runner-up at the World Championships at the start of year.
He just finished top of the Premier League table in his debut campaign, is in top form, and is rightly so the player of the moment.
With all that said, he only has 6 months of ranking tournament history and despite strong performances and flying up the Order of Merit table, he was 25th at the time of the pairs being confirmed.
He may be the current in form player and one of the best in the world (not just England) but when you look at the consistent form over a two year period, there’s 11 English players ahead of him.
Personally, I feel 2 years is too long when deciding these tournaments.
James Wade for example is ranked above Littler and while I consider Wade to be one of the best to ever play, I wouldn’t have him represent England ahead of him now.
There are however players like Smith, Aspinall, Cross, Chisnall and Dobey who have played to an elite standard for a prolonged period of time.
Just last week Smith beat Littler head-to-head to make it 5 wins in 7 when the two have met this year. Littler is great no doubt but he’s not yet cemented as a top 3 player whereas Smith still is.
Littler is a rare exception. He’s come out of nowhere and defied all expectations.
This selection process has worked fine for the last decade but Littler proving to be a true darts prodigy just keeps finding ways to stir up debate.
Smith even recently claimed that some pro players were ‘annoyed’ with Littler and his seemingly special treatment so it’s not just the fans that he’s got talking on a weekly basis.
With all that said, Smith has earned his place and paired with Humphries we still have them taking the win, they are the current World 1 & 2 after all.
It won’t be easy though, Netherlands, Wales and Scotland will be sending some of their own strong duos to the oche.
Paul Lim Qualifies for His 10th World Cup of Darts Tournament
On Sunday, Singapore qualified for the World Cup of Darts through the Asian Qualifiers, however, that alone isn’t all that interesting to most readers. What is of interest is the player representing them…
Paul Lim, yes the Paul Lim, first ever player to hit a World Championship 9-darter Paul Lim has qualified along with partner Harim Lim.
Paul Lim is now 70 years of age and is still playing high level, competitive darts!
The duo have represented Singapore for almost a decade now in this tournament.
While they struggle to get out of the early rounds (their highest finish was a quarter final place in 2017), it’s a heartwarming thing to see the pair showing up time and time again.
Especially considering they knocked out Gary Anderson & Peter Wright in that legendary 2017 run where not a single person on earth would have seen that coming.
Also at 70 you’ve just got to give Lim some additional respect. People are fiercely patriotic but I think regardless of the nation you support, all of us would be happy to see the Lim duo have a deep tournament run.
𝗟𝗜𝗠 𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗨𝗣 🌍🎯❤️
— Darts Behind The Oche 🎯 (@DartsBehindThe) May 20, 2024
🚨 Darts LEGEND Paul Lim will represent Singapore at the 2024 World Cup of Darts 🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/YeAGC7a7zI
2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts Nations Confirmed
The PDC has released this provisional list:
2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Competing Nations & Pairings
Australia – Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
Austria – Rowby-John Rodriguez, Mensur Suljovic
Bahrain – Basem Mahmood, Duda Durra
Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh, TBC
Canada – Matt Campbell, David Cameron
China – Xiaochen Zong, Chengan Liu
Chinese Taipei – Teng-Lieh Pupo, An-Sheng Lu
Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grvabac
Czechia – Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
Denmark – Benjamin Drue Reus, TBC
England – Luke Humphries, Michael Smith
Finland – TBC
France – Jacques Labre, Thibault Tricole
Germany – Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens
Gibraltar – Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano
Guyana – Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong – Lok Yin Lee, Man Lok Leung
Hungary – Gabor Jagica, Nandor Major
Iceland – TBC
Italy – Michele Turetta, Massimo Dalla Rosa
Japan – Tomoya Goto, Ryusei Azemoto
Latvia – Madars Razma, TBC
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas, TBC
Malaysia – Siik Hwang Wong, Mohamad Nasir
Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert
New Zealand – Haupai Puha, Ben Robb
Northern Ireland – Josh Rock, TBC
Norway – TBC
Philippines – Christian Perez, Alexis Toylo
Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Radek Szaganski
Portugal – Jose de Sousa, David Gomes
Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor, Keane Barry
Scotland – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson
Singapore – Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa – Johan Geldenhuys, Cameron Carolissen
Spain – Jose Justicia, Jesus Noguera
Sweden – Jeffrey de Graaf, Oskar Lukasiak
Switzerland – Stefan Bellmont, TBC
USA – Danny Lauby, Jules van Dongen
Wales – Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton
Source – PDC Website
As you can see, all nations are confirmed but some of the specific pairings are still TBC with all set to be confirmed in late May.
The tournament runs from June 27 – June 30 and we’ll be bringing you previews, results, and coverage closer to the time.