PDC World Darts Championship: Peter Wright has third title in sights at Alexandra Palace

Peter Wright won the World Championship in both 2020 and 2022

Peter Wright will begin the defence of his PDC World Darts Championship title against Mickey Mansell or Ben Robb.

The second seed is bidding to become the first Scottish player to secure a hat-trick of world titles.

Top seed Gerwyn Price has been drawn against the first-round winner of Luke Woodhouse against Vladyslav Omelchenko.

The top 32 players from the PDC Order of Merit qualified by right and enter the World Championship in the second round.

London's Alexandra Palace will host the event from 15 December to 3 January.

Darts' biggest tournament sees 96 players competing to win the Sid Waddell Trophy and £2.5m in prize money.

Former BDO world champion Richie Burnett sealed his first spot at the World Championship in eight years as he beat David Evans in qualifying, with the Welshman drawn against Adam Gawlas in the first round.

Ryan Joyce, a 7-3 winner over Jamie Clark, and Jeff Smith who beat Nick Fullwell 7-1 claimed the other two qualifier places in Barnsley on Monday.

Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen is seeded third and will face either Niels Zonneveld or Lewy Williams.

New Grand Slam of Darts champion Michael Smith is the fourth seed and awaits the winner of Jermaine Wattimena against Nathan Rafferty.

The seeded stars also include Raymond van Barneveld, who jumped up the rankings to be seeded 32nd thanks to reaching the Grand Slam semi-finals.

Fallon Sherrock will take on Ricky Evans, as she return to the stage where she became the first woman to beat a man at a World Championship three years ago, and the winner of that tie will meet Masters champion Joe Cullen in round two.

Four-time Women's World Champion Lisa Ashton has been pitted against Suffolk star Ryan Meikle in her opener, and the winner will progress to a second-round showdown against five-time World Champion Van Barneveld.

The other female qualifier, Beau Greaves, faces William O'Connor for the right to meet 25th seed Gabriel Clemens.

Northern Ireland's Josh Rock is the leading light among the ProTour Order of Merit qualifiers, which include two-time world champion Adrian Lewis, former finalist Simon Whitlock and veteran Steve Beaton - playing in a remarkable 32nd successive world championship.

Price and compatriot Jonny Clayton are both seeded for the second round, while their fellow Welshmen Burnett, Lewy Williams, Rob Owen and Jim Williams will all begin their campaigns in the first round.

Burnett won his PDC tour card back at qualifying school in Milton Keynes in January.

The 55-year-old claimed the BDO world title in 1995, beating Van Barneveld in the final.

2022/23 Cazoo World Darts Championship draw:

Seeding in brackets - second round onwards

(1) Gerwyn Price v Luke Woodhouse/Vladyslav Omelchenko

(32) Raymond van Barneveld v Ryan Meikle/Lisa Ashton

(16) Ryan Searle v Adam Gawlas/Richie Burnett

(17) Jose De Sousa v Simon Whitlock/Christian Perez

(8) James Wade v Jim Williams/Sebastian Bialecki

(25) Gabriel Clemens v William O'Connor/Beau Greaves

(9) Danny Noppert v Ritchie Edhouse/David Cameron

(24) Daryl Gurney v Alan Soutar/Mal Cuming

(4) Michael Smith v Jermaine Wattimena/Nathan Rafferty

(29) Martin Schindler v Martin Lukeman/Nobuhiro Yamamoto

(13) Joe Cullen v Ricky/Evans/Fallon Sherrock

(20) Damon Heta v Adrian Lewis/Daniel Larsson

(5) Luke Humphries v Keegan Brown/Florian Hempel

(28) Vincent van der Voort v Cameron Menzies/Diogo Portela

(12) Dave Chisnall v Andrew Gilding/Robert Owen

(21) Stephen Bunting v Geert Nentjes/Leonard Gates

(2) Peter Wright v Mickey Mansell/Ben Robb

(31) Kim Huybrechts v Keane Barry/Grant Sampson

(15) Dimitri Van den Bergh v Rowby-John Rodriguez/Lourence Ilagan

(18) Krzysztof Ratajski v Danny Jansen/Paolo Nebrida

(7) Jonny Clayton v Steve Beaton/Danny van Trijp

(26) Brendan Dolan v Jamie Hughes/Jimmy Hendriks

(10) Nathan Aspinall v Boris Krcmar/Toru Suzuki

(23) Callan Rydz v Josh Rock/Jose Justicia

(3) Michael van Gerwen v Niels Zonneveld/Lewy Williams

(30) Mensur Suljovic v Mike De Decker/Jeff Smith

(14) Dirk van Duijvenbode v Karel Sedlacek/Raymond Smith

(19) Ross Smith v John O'Shea/Darius Labanauskas

(6) Rob Cross v Scott Williams/Ryan Joyce

(27) Mervyn King v Matt Campbell/Danny Baggish

(11) Gary Anderson v Madars Razma/Prakash Jiwa

(22) Chris Dobey v Martijn Kleermaker/Xicheng Han