Fitzgerald and Madhoo to represent Guyana at 2024 World Cup of Darts

Guyanese pair Norman Madhoo and Sudesh Fitzgerald will make their second appearance at the 2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts, from June 27-30 at Frankfurt’s Eissporthalle.

The duo made their World Cup of Darts debut in 2023 after winning the inaugural qualifier. And they repeated the feat at the qualifier in April in San Jose to book their 2024 spot in Germany.

Madhoo, who made his fourth World Darts Championship appearance in December, will represent Guyana in the popular pairs event alongside his compatriot Fitzgerald, a World Championship participant in 2009.

The qualifier was open to nations across Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, and featured 12 teams, each of whom came through a qualifying process in their home countries to secure their spot.

The Guyanese duo were dominant in the round-robin stage, dropping only two legs en route to claiming top spot in Group B, before whitewashing Panama’s pairing of Andres Vega and Antonio Arango to advance to the semi-finals.

This set up a showdown against Costa Rican duo Denis Valerin and Jason Calderon, with Calderon part of the Costa Rican side that came within one dart of eliminating the Guyanese trailblazers at the same stage of the 2023 qualifier.

However, Madhoo and Fitzgerald swept aside Calderon and Valerin in four straight legs to progress to a decisive contest against Nicaraguan pair Norwin Jimenez and Gerald Ordenana, who they met in the round-robin stage.

Madhoo and Fitzgerald ran out 4-2 winners in the group phase, and it was a similar outcome in the decisive piece, as they punished missed doubles from their opponents to cruise to a 4-1 victory and book their return to Germany.

40 nations to compete

Meanwhile, all 40 nations competing in the 2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts have confirmed their pairings ahead of the annual global festival of darts.

Top seeds and four-time champions England will be represented by World Champion Luke Humphries, making his World Cup debut, and world number three Michael Smith.

Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton will be number two seeds as they return to defend the title they won for a second time in 2023.

Michael van Gerwen and Danny Noppert will line up for four-time winners and third seeds Netherlands, while Peter Wright and Gary Anderson will fly the flag for two-time champions and fourth seeds Scotland.

Damon Heta and Simon Whitlock will continue their partnership which saw them claim glory for Australia in 2022.

Former runners-up Belgium, Republic of Ireland and Austria are also among the teams seeded 5-16. With all pairings now confirmed, the draw for the Group Stage will be made on Wednesday June 19.

The revamped format successfully introduced last year will return in 2024, with group and knockout stages of all Doubles matches across four days of action.

The top four ranked nations, based on the lowest cumulative PDC Order of Merit ranking of the two competing players, will be seeded and will enter at the second round stage.

The remaining 36 teams will be split into 12 groups of three for the round-robin first round (including 12 seeded nations) from which each group winner will progress.

The second round, featuring the last 16 nations, will be split across two sessions on Saturday June 29 before the quarter-finals take place on Sunday afternoon, with the tournament culminating in the semi-finals and final on Sunday evening – with the eventual champions to earn a combined £80,000 in prize money.

2024 BetVictor World Cup of Darts
Competing Nations and Pairings
Seeds 1-4 – Through to Round Two
(1) England – Luke Humphries, Michael Smith
(2) Wales – Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton
(3) Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen, Danny Noppert
(4) Scotland – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson

Seeds 5-16 – Seeded for Group Stage
(5) Belgium – Dimitri Van den Bergh, Kim Huybrechts
(6) Northern Ireland – Josh Rock, Brendan Dolan
(7) Germany – Martin Schindler, Gabriel Clemens
(8) Australia – Damon Heta, Simon Whitlock
(9) Republic of Ireland – William O’Connor, Keane Barry
(10) Austria – Rowby-John Rodriguez, Mensur Suljovic
(11) Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski, Radek Szaganski
(12) Czechia – Adam Gawlas, Karel Sedlacek
(13) Croatia – Boris Krcmar, Romeo Grvabac
(14) France – Jacques Labre, Thibault Tricole
(15) Sweden – Jeffrey de Graaf, Oskar Lukasiak
(16) USA – Danny Lauby, Jules van Dongen

Non-Seeded Nations
Bahrain – Basem Mahmood, Duda Durra
Canada – Matt Campbell, David Cameron
China – Xiaochen Zong, Chengan Liu
Chinese Taipei – Teng-Lieh Pupo, An-Sheng Lu
Denmark – Benjamin Reus, Claus Bendix Nielsen
Finland – Marko Kantele, Teemu Harju
Gibraltar – Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano
Guyana – Norman Madhoo, Sudesh Fitzgerald
Hong Kong – Lok Yin Lee, Man Lok Leung
Hungary – Gabor Jagica, Nandor Major
Iceland – Arngrimur Olafsson, Petur Gudmundsson
Italy – Michele Turetta, Massimo Dalla Rosa
Japan – Tomoya Goto, Ryusei Azemoto
Latvia – Madars Razma, Valters Melderis
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas, Mindaugas Barauskas
Malaysia – Siik Hwang Wong, Mohamad Nasir
New Zealand – Haupai Puha, Ben Robb
Norway – Cor Dekker, Hakon Bjorge Helling
Philippines – Christian Perez, Alexis Toylo
Portugal – Jose de Sousa, David Gomes
Singapore – Paul Lim, Harith Lim
South Africa – Johan Geldenhuys, Cameron Carolissen
Spain – Jose Justicia, Jesus Noguera
Switzerland – Stefan Bellmont, Bruno Stockli

• All games will be played in a Doubles format

Prize Fund (Per Team)
Winners– £80,000
Runners-up– £50,000
Semi-Final losers– £30,000
Quarter-Final losers– £20,000
Last 16 losers– £9,000
Second in Group– £5,000
Third in Group– £4,000
Total– £450,000