Darts #10: 2012: 21 Pro Tour, 5x European Tour en de grote toernooien

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FIVE new countries will compete in the 2012 World Cup of Darts in Hamburg next month - including South Africa, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The second PDC World Cup will be staged from February 3-5 at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, featuring 24 countries competing for a £150,000 prize fund.

The Netherlands, who won the tournament in December 2010, will be the number three seeds as Raymond van Barneveld and Vincent van der Voort defend the title in Hamburg.

The English pair of world number one Phil Taylor and World Champion Adrian Lewis will be the top seed, with Australian duo Simon Whitlock and Paul Nicholson the number two seeds.

Scotland's Gary Anderson and Peter Wright are seeded four, Welsh pair Mark Webster and Richie Burnett are five, Northern Ireland's Brendan Dolan & Michael Mansell are six, Belgium's Kim Huybrechts and Kurt Van De Rijck are seven and the German pair of Jyhan Artut and Bernd Roith are the eighth seed on home soil.

The top eight seeds will enter the tournament at the second round stage, with the teams ranked 9-24 contesting the first round in the opening session on Friday February 3.

Canada, featuring three-time World Champion John Part and Ken MacNeil, are the ninth seeds, with Ireland, the USA, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Finland, Gibraltar, Denmark and debutants Croatia the next in line, with all having at least two ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit.

The Spanish pair of Antonio Alcinas and Carlos Rodriguez famously won through to the semi-finals of the last World Cup, knocking out England's Phil Taylor & James Wade along the way.

William O'Connor and Mick McGowan represent Ireland, Darin Young is partnered by Gary Mawson for the USA, World Championship qualifiers Mensur Suljovic and Dietmar Burger team up for Austria and Magnus Caris will play alongside Dennis Nilsson for Sweden.

Finland's Petri Korte, who met Wade in the World Championship, partners Marko Kantele in the event, while Dylan Duo and Dyson Parody represent Gibraltar, Per Laursen and Jann Hoffmann will play for Denmark and Boris Krcmar plays for Croatia alongside Tonci Restovic.

The remaining six countries have been invited by virtue of having one ranked player on the PDC Order of Merit, with Japan and New Zealand joined by South Africa, the Philippines, Malaysia and Hungary - giving many recent Ladbrokes World Darts Championship qualifiers further top-level experience.

Japan's Haruki Muramatsu - who won through to play Phil Taylor in the World Championship - is partnered by popular ace Morihiro Hashimoto, who had taken on Gary Anderson at Alexandra Palace 12 months earlier.

New Zealander Warren French is joined by Preston Ridd, while South Africa's Devon Petersen will be partnered by Shawn Hogan as he looks to build on his second round appearance in the World Championship.

Former World Championship qualifier Lourence Ilagan partners Christian Perez for the Philippines, while Malaysia recent Alexandra Palace qualifier Lee Choon Peng is joined by Amin Bin Abdul Ghani and Hungary's Nandor Bezzeg will play with Kristian Kaufmann, who has experience on the PDC ProTour in Europe.

The teams are ranked based on the cumulative totals of the competing players on the PDC Order of Merit, with the first round draw seeing the teams drawn 9v24, 10v23, 11v22, 12v21, 13v20, 14v19, 15v18 and 16v17.

This means that Canada meet Hungary, Ireland play Malaysia, USA face the Philippines, Austria take on New Zealand, Sweden clash with Japan, Spain challenge South Africa, Finland battle Croatia and Gibraltar come up against Denmark.

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THE Professional Darts Corporation can confirm that the four semi-finalists of the 2012 Lakeside Championship will be offered two-year Tour Cards to compete on the PDC circuit.

The BDO has issued a written notice to release without penalty a player from his Playing Agreement with them and therefore the PDC is able to confirm that any of the four players who wish to take up a place on the PDC's £5m professional circuit are entitled to do so upon notification being made to the PDC by 12pm on Wednesday January 18.

At this time, the full list of Tour Card holders for 2012 will be announced with the remaining places allocated to Q School, which begins the following day at the Barnsley Metrodome to complete the total number of 128.