PDC Grand Slam draw made for Wayne Jones

Wolverhampton's Wayne Jones has been paired with Raymond van Barneveld, Mark Walsh and Christian Kist in the group stages of the Grand Slam of Darts.

The tournament starts on Saturday night at Wolverhampton Civic Hall and Jones will face Kist on Sunday afternoon first in Group H after the draw was made.

Kist came out of nowhere to win the BDO world title as a qualifier in January and the 26-year-old takes part in the PDC event as a result of those exploits.

Fellow Dutchman Van Barneveld could Jones' stiffest test as a former world champion in both organisations and reached the Grand Slam semi-final in 2009.

Watford darter Walsh made it to the same stage at the Grand Slam last year and Jones, a semi-finalist in 2010, qualifies for the event the same route.

He said: "Hopefully, I can 'Kist' goodbye to Christian and Raymond will have his 'Barney Army' but I will have the Wolves howling in my corner.

"Mark Walsh is a good lad and a very solid player. Overall, I am pleased with the draw and, hopefully, can qualify for the knockout stages.

"I look forward to having home support and taking them on a journey with me. Round by round, let's increase the sound!

GROUP A

Phil Taylor, Scott Waites, Mark Webster, Co Stompe

GROUP B

Michael van Gerwen, Robert Thornton, Ted Hankey, Steve Beaton

GROUP C

Simon Whitlock, Kevin Painter, Dean Winstanley, James Hubbard

GROUP D

James Wade, Jan Dekker, Mervyn King, Arron Monk

GROUP E

Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, John Part, Tony O'Shea

GROUP F

Andy Hamilton, Paul Nicholson, Brendan Dolan, Barrie Bates

GROUP G

Wes Newton, Terry Jenkins, Wesley Harms, Martin Phillips

GROUP H

Wayne Jones, Christian Kist, Raymond van Barneveld, Mark Walsh