"Wayne Mardle's Bold Prediction: Beau Greaves Can Outsmart Anyone in the Darts World Championships!"

WAYNE MARDLE would not be surprised if Beau Greaves stuns the world this Christmas and reaches the quarter-finals at Ally Pally.

The Voice of , 52, will conduct the draw for the 128-player in Central London on Monday with the ceremony shown live on Sky Sports News.

Wayne Mardle is tipping Beau Greaves to cause an upset at the darts World ChampionshipCredit: Alamy The 21-year-old is much-improved since her last visit to Ally PallyCredit: Getty

There are five women in the field and , 21, is the danger for the top seeds like and.

Nobody really wants to draw Yorkshire’s finest in the first round, especially on the North London Palace stage.

The three-time women’s world champion lost on her last appearance there three years ago but is a much better player and is still improving.

, told SunSport: “I’ve thought about this and I’ve had chats with Mark Webster and others.

“We were going up and down the rankings in our shared Airbnb recently.

“I basically said to him, I can’t see any reason why Beau can’t get to the quarterfinals of the World Championship.

“I said I think she’s top 16 in the world – right now. Forget rankings. I’m on about ability.

“So we started moving up from the top 40 and I was just reading out the ranking list. I said: Is she better than so and so?

“So, he was like, ‘yeah, yeah,’ in agreement.

“Well, we’re now inside the top 16 before we get to a no. There was the odd no, like with [world No21] , where the rankings are a little bit lying.

“But let me tell you, if she gets to the quarter-finals of the worlds, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“If Beau were to draw , I wouldn’t be surprised if she beat him.

“What I’m getting at, I don’t even think the draw has to be favourable for her.

“I believe that she’s capable of beating anyone.

“You need that little bit of luck, that little bit of timing and the ability.

“She’s got the ability, the other stuff just needs to happen.”

Littler is the reigning world darts champion and is trying to become the first person to defend the crown since went back-to-back in 2016.

The champion on January 3, 2026 will earn £1million – the richest prize in the sport’s history.

Mardle said: “Looking past Luke Littler and Luke Humphries is pushing it.

“But what I’ve seen from, and this is all temporary, recency bias, European champion Gian van Veen has a chance.

“But one that may have come to the fore is.

“He got beaten in the World Final last year and people seem to forget that.

“The way he dealt with Gary Anderson at the Grand Slam – and that was a pressurised game for him.

“To play that well under pressure tells me that man has got zero self-doubt. Zero. Absolutely none.

“I wouldn’t rule out another Van Gerwen final. It wouldn’t surprise me.

“The next world champion, I believe if it’s not an established name, it’ll be a name that won’t surprise you.

“I’m saying someone like a, a , maybe even as far as a .

“We’re not going to have someone that is like ‘who is that, where did he come from?’ That’s not going to happen.

“With the 128, it’s another game. The World Championship is already gruelling enough.

“The players are on and off, they’re up and down with the adrenaline buzz.

“Now they have to win two games before Christmas.”

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