STARS ALL SET FOR WILLIAM HILL GRAND SLAM OF DARTS

THE William Hill Grand Slam of Darts will kick off on Saturday as the biggest names in darts, led by reigning champion Phil Taylor and rival World Champions Adrian Lewis and Christian Kist, contest for the £100,000 title at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

The nine-day event sees the 32 players initially split across eight groups of four for the round-robin stage, before the top two from each progress to the knockout phase from the last 16 onwards on Thursday.

Two-time Lakeside Champion Ted Hankey, who was a quarter-finalist last year and moved onto the PDC circuit in January, meets UK Open champion Robert Thornton in their Group B opener.

"I want to win the first game this year," said Telford^s Hankey. "Once the first game^s out of the way you know the others are going to be tough anyway, so if you get one win under your belt then you can relax a little bit.

"All the groups are tough to be honest, so when the draw came out I said to myself that it doesn^t really matter who I play. It^s the best of nine legs, and if you play well enough you^ll win."

Hankey, nicknamed ^The Count^ has often been the boo-boy for fans but found himself being cheered during last year^s tournament in Wolverhampton!

"I^m looking forward to being on stage again, being on TV again and in Wolverhampton," he said. "It would be nice this year to see the crowd cheering for me again and singing ^Super Ted^.

"It was cracking last year and I really enjoyed it because the crowd were great to me, and it^s one of the reasons I^m looking forward to it so much this year to be honest.

"I had a really good time and hopefully I can have a good run this week too."

The Grand Slam of Darts will kick off on Saturday evening (7pm) with eight matches from Groups A-D, with the clash between reigning Players Championship Finals winner Kevin Painter and former Lakeside finalist Dean Winstanley kicking off the event.

Waites plays Webster before recent World Grand Prix finalist Mervyn King meets Dutchman Jan Dekker.

Thornton plays Hankey before their Group B rivals Michael van Gerwen and Steve Beaton clash, and Taylor then faces Stompe in their Group A opener.

European Champion Simon Whitlock then faces World Youth Champion James Hubbard in Group C, while 2010 runner-up James Wade will end the opening night against Youth Tour Order of Merit winner Arron Monk.

Sunday^s afternoon session will feature Groups E-H playing their opening games, with World Cup runner-up Paul Nicholson meeting former World Grand Prix finalist Brendan Dolan in the opening fixture.

The quarter-finals will be held across two sessions next Saturday, with the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon and the final being played on Sunday evening.