The World Cup of Darts is a chance for eccentric arrowsmiths from faraway lands to establish themselves on the scene. England, represented by Phil The Power Taylor and Adrian Lewis are the defending champions when the 2016 tournament gets underway later this week, live on Sky Sports, but the event is about so much more than that.What should we expect? We answer the key questions ahead of the festivities in Frankfurt which starts on June 2 with the semi-final and finals taking place on June 5. Who are the favourites? Raymond van Barneveld Michael van Gerwen won the World Cup in 2014 In its five-year existence, England and the Netherlands remain the only two teams to have won the World Cup of Darts with Phil The Power Taylor and Adrian Lewis winning three times.The pair from the Potteries, both ranked in the worlds top four, will enter as defending champions after last years victory, while the Netherlands duo of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld will provide the obvious competition once again. Third seeds Scotland, runners-up last year, boast Premier League duo Gary Anderson and Robert Thornton so will be expected to make the latter stages.Interestingly, it is worth pointing out that the Netherlands first World Cup triumph in the inaugural 2010 competition didnt include current world No 1 Van Gerwen. Back in those days, Van Barneveld was paired with Co Stompe - remember him? The result with Barney was arguably Stompes best achievement before he was left behind by emerging Dutchmen like Van Gerwen.Who could spring an upset? Kim Huybrechts will team up with older brother Ronny to represent Belgium There is plenty of danger among the seeded nations and even some dark horses elsewhere. Northern Ireland are fourth seeds on account of world No 21 Brendan Dolan and No 28 Daryl Gurney, while Gerwyn Prices excellent form makes Wales a threat.Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson might be Australias best pair in years, while Belgiums Huybrechts brothers are always in sync at the oche.Outsiders may include the Republic of Ireland who have William OConnor and Mick McGowan, while John Parts inclusion for Canada will be interesting. And who knows if a shock challenger will emerge and put their nation on the darting map?Which unsung nation will become Peoples Champions? Gibraltars Dyson Parody and Manuel Vilerio will make a triumphant return Gibraltar have emerged as cult heroes over past years thanks in part to the magnificently named Dyson Parody, who is a genuine darts player rather than a mockery of a home appliances device.He is the greatest darts player ever to emerge from Gibraltar, which admittedly isnt an accolade to hang his hat on yet. But Parody, the 31-year-old born and bred within spitting distance of the famous monkeys on the Rock, is emerging as a viable contender.This year he became the first Gibraltarian to make the quarter-finals of a European Tour event, beating Jelle Klaasen and Max Hopp along the way. He missed three match darts before losing to Van Gerwen. In the World Cup, he will team with Manuel Vilerio and they may well find themselves with more fan support than they bargained for. Gibraltar won their first ever game at the World Cup of darts and celebrated in style Are the hosts any good? Max Hopp (Picture by Lawrence Lustig) Germany will stage the World Cup for the fourth consecutive time, bringing the worlds top players to Frankfurt for the second year in a row. Only the first edition of the competition, held in Englands north-east, has been outside of Germany.This year, the German darts will be handed to Max Hopp and Jyhan Artut who equalled their nations best-ever finish last time with a quarter-final loss to eventual winners England. Yes, thats correct. England eliminated Germany from a World Cup quarter-final!Hopp, the 19-year-old, is rapidly improving and his promise makes a mockery of his No 45 ranking. His partner Artut is 39 and, teaming together for the second time, the unseeded Germans might fancy going beyond the final eight for the first time.Will a cult hero like Cristo Reyes emerge? Reyes has a fan-base but could be an improving contender Hardcore darts fans may have admired Reyes mediocre European Tour performances for years but, for many people, last years World Cup was an eye-opener to the standard of Spanish arrows.Hailing for Tenerife, it remains unconfirmed that Reyes learned his trade in local establishments known as The Red Lion or the The White Horse accompanied by a full English. Reyes made his name largely in the 2015 World Championship, forcing Gary Anderson to muster the second-highest average of the whole tournament in order to eliminate him.The exotically named Spaniard is leading the charge for Iberian darts and impressed sufficiently in last years second-round exit to Belgium to suggest that he and Antonio Alcinas will be worth watching again.Watch the World Cup of Darts from June 2-5, live on Sky Sports. Also See: WATCH: England win World Cup World Cup pairs confirmed Sky Bets darts odds Darts on Sky http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Mason-Crosby-Jersey/ . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Vince-Biegel-Jersey/ . - Oakland Raiders running back Rashad Jennings was speaking to a group of local high school students earlier this week when the conversation turned to the importance of being prepared when opportunities in life arise. http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Kyle-Murphy-Jersey/ . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Marwin-Evans-Jersey/ . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. http://www.packersrookiestore.com/Packers-Brett-Hundley-Jersey/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Kaunain Abbas is a right-hand batsman. In a Twenty20 match at Chinnaswamy Stadium on February 24, he smashed eight sixes en route an unbeaten 128 off 65 balls. His cricketing idol may be Rahul Dravid, but his game is more in line with current times. He is 22 and a first-year MBA student.Abbas clean hitting didnt go unnoticed - it was live on television unlike the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy in which Indias state teams compete; the highlights are also available online. His runs came in the second match of the University Cricket Championship (UCC) - the newest entrant in the Indian cricket calendar. The innings would have caught the attention of talent scouts from IPL teams, if not the state associations. For some players like Abbas, the tournament could be a big step towards realising their dream of playing top-level cricket. It is with this intention - of bringing university cricket to the fore - that the T20 tournament was introduced.The initiative is backed by the BCCI and Indias ministry of human resource development and is an extension of the annual Rohinton Baria Trophy. It promises to be the boost an ailing 77-year-old inter-university tournament, and the once healthy university cricket system, needs.Unlike the disconnected relationship between the Ranji Trophy and the IPL, Rohinton Barias fortunes are closely intertwined with that of the UCC. Eight universities - the top two from each zone - compete for the Rohinton Baria Trophy. The same eight teams qualify for the UCC. If the UCC is successful, the interest in next years Rohinton Baria could get a massive surge. Abbas, you see, is also the captain of the Jain University team that won the Rohinton Baria Trophy this year.The Rohinton Baria is not the premier tournament it used to be and could do with a marketing push. Things were different a few decades back. The tournament blossomed in the 60s and the 70s and launched many careers. Sunil Gavaskar played in the 1966-67 final for Bombay University, Mohinder Amarnath led Delhi University to the title in 1972-73, Sanjay Manjrekar used it as a springboard to the Mumbai Ranji team after six consecutive hundreds and Dilip Sardesais 435 runs at an average of 87 pushed him straight into the national reckoning.They were not the only ones. Vijay Manjrekar, Ajit Wadekar, Kapil Dev, Arun Lal, Sandeep Patil, Mohammad Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, Manoj Prabhakar, Shivlal Yadav, Roger Binny - all played university cricket. For us, it was the biggest tournament and the college was the be all and end all of our cricket, says Lal, who played for Delhi University.Sifting through the archives, many more recognisable names pop up. Harsha Bhogle, Rajdeep Sardesai, Piyush Pandey.To be selected in the university team was big. I remember the day our team was being picked, my friend had got up early searching for newspapers to see the list, reminisces Bhogle, who was a chemical engineering student at Osmania University in Hyderabad.The universities that did well in the tournament were the ones from regions with strong cricketing cultures and established Ranji teams - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Punjab, Bangalore.The quality was high, and competition to get into the sides was tough. Delhi, in a 10-year period starting in 1973, won seven titles despite the transient nature of the teams. Lal fondly remembers the 1977-78 final when he played with a fractured leg and scored an unbeaten 165 - 76 of them in an 80-run stand with No. 10 Sunil Valson.The management wanted to send me home but I told them if I go back, my mother would never let me come back to play. So we waited for ten days, cut the plaster off. Our manager asked for a fitness test, and I said Are you crazy? I will stand in the slips and I will hobble while batting.ddddddddddddAnd thats what happened. It was one of the best innings I have ever played.It was serious cricket, a primary route to be selected for state teams. A combined universities squad also used to take on visiting international teams.A positive side effect of the structure was that the players got a degree too. Back in the days when there were no mass employers and campus placements were not in fashion, the value of a graduate degree was almost as much as a professional degree and university cricket came with this insurance. Sanjay Manjrekar mentions the positive role his college administration played in helping players manage academics along with pursuing their cricket. The lack of jobs also meant that for amateurs in the team, there were no distractions during the cricket season.But around about the same time the Buggles recorded their debut single Video killed the radio star, Indias university cricket scene was being threatened by a new commodity -age-group cricket.I tell you what killed it, it was Under-19 cricket, says Bhogle. The moment U-19 became big, people stopped playing for the university or didnt go to the university. The BCCI started age-group cricket to expand the game and to ensure that talent met opportunities irrespective of the background. The board-run age-group versions also received further boost with the inception of global tournaments like the U-19 and U-15 World Cups. Players received exposure like never before. Moreover, as the board grew richer and started improving the general standards around the tournaments by including daily allowances, comfortable travel and stay arrangements, it wasnt a surprise that players started choosing such tournaments over university cricket.Sanjay Manjrekar presents a terse assessment: We are not missing anything. For me if U-15, U-19, U-22 and club cricket remain vibrant and the quality of cricketers coming through remains good, there is no need for a tournament like the Rohinton Baria as a feeder.But in a country like India where choosing sport over a stable profession has always been tough, the safety net of education doesnt exist for young cricketers who now skip university to focus on age-group cricket. The harder choices, for some, need to be made earlier in their lives. So although the new structure has provided opportunities, it could possibly also have been a deterrent to some for not taking up the game.Age-group cricket is not the only reason as Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCIs cricket development general manager, points out. The popularity of university cricket is further diminished because of the large number of universities that participate (in inter-zonal qualifiers). This tournament is now about quantity more than quality and in most cases its played on matting wickets, Shetty says.The question is, with so much cricket, does an additional T20 tournament do any favours to the university cricket system? N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, speaking at the launch of the UCC last month, was positive when he said, the viewership will make a big difference as it will enable people to see university cricket close at hand.The matches are being covered live on Star Cricket and have sponsor support from NDTV and Toyota. The viewership is guaranteed for three years at least. But it is hard to predict how a minor tournament with unknown names is going to sustain interest.The idea is that you will get to know some names soon and build around it, says Lal. It is now over to Abbas and other boys to bring some attention back to university cricket. Wholesale HoodiesNFL Shirts OutletJerseys NFL WholesaleCheap NFL Jerseys Free ShippingWholesale Jerseys CheapCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaWholesale JerseysWholesale NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '