Littler to face O'Connor in European Championship Darts opener

Luke Littler will face William O'Connor in his European Championship Darts opener, while Gian van Veen will start his title defence against Andrew Gilding on Thursday in Dortmund.

World champion Littler, who won two of the three European Tour events he played in this year, will seek to arrest a poor run of form which has seen him lose in the quarter-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, in the first round at the World Grand Prix and the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship.