Darts fans may notice something a little different about Ritchie Edhouse when he begins his World Championship campaign. The former European champion kicks off his Ally Pally challenge against New Zealander Jonny Tata on Sunday afternoon.

He will do so wearing a compression sleeve on his throwing arm. The unique look was adopted by Edhouse last year. The change coincided with an improvement in form that led to him winning the 2024 European Championship in Dortmund, his first and, to date, only major PDC title.

Addressing the decision to wear the sleeve, Edhouse said the decision wasn't injury-related. He said last year: "About six or seven months ago, I got a twinge in my finger and the compression stopped the twinge.

"There's no injury, it didn't hurt, there was just a twinge there. [Fellow player] Connor Scutt said to try one of these and ever since I haven't looked back."

Edhouse hasn't quite kicked on as much as he would have liked since winning the European title. He is seeded 27th at the World Championship, where he has failed to go beyond the second round.

However, whatever he goes on to achieve in the sport, he will always have his success in Dortmund, where he beat Jermaine Wattimena in one of the most unlikely major finals in recent memory.

He said at the time: "I always I believed that I can win them, but when you do win a major, it does give you a kick up the bum to put more work in. The big one, the Worlds, is the one you want to win and now I know I can win it if I put my head to it."

Sunday afternoon's other ties will see Dom Taylor take on Oskar Lukasiak and Richard Veenstra go up against Nitin Kumar. The session is headlined by Joe Cullen, who faces the promising Bradley Brooks. Top of the bill in Sunday night's session will be fourth seed Stephen Bunting's clash with Sebastian Bialecki.