The 39-year-old claimed his second title last year, adding to the crown he won in 2013, and will be back at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green, Britain, for the 2017 edition.

In 2014, Waites suffered a shock 3-0 first round defeat to fellow Englishman Alan Norris when attempting to defend the title.

This year, the sixth seed will begin his challenge on Tuesday (January 10) night against either England’s Dennis Harbour or Craig Caldwell of New Zealand, who will meet in a preliminary round match a day earlier.

Proceedings will be kicked off by top seed Glen Durrant of England when he plays Wales’ Nick Kenny.

This will be followed up by the opening match of the women’s competition with Trina Gulliver, a 10-time champion, begins her title defence against another English player, Claire Brookin.

The championship is scheduled to finish on January 15 with 40 players representing 14 different nations involved in the men’s tournament.

There are 16 women from seven countries in that part of the tournament.

Darts has two separate World Championships following a split in the sport in 1992 which saw the World Darts Council formed, a body which would later become known as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

In 1994, the first PDC World Championship was held and the most recent edition of the competition was won by Michael van Gerwen of The Netherlands after he beat Scotland's Gary Anderson 7-3 in the final on January 2.

A bid for darts to be included in the Olympic Games was made for the 2020 cycle, but the application was not chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion when the shortlist was cut down in 2013.