Michael van Gerwens meeting with Robert Thornton is the highlight of a star-studded Wednesday night as the Grand Slam of Darts second round gets underway. Nike Vapormax Danmark . After four days of group stage drama, 32 competitors have been whittled down to 16 with the next stage of the tournament taking place on Wednesday and Thursday evening.Of the eight BDO players who qualified five are remaining in the event that pits the best of darts two organisations against each other. Martin Adams, Scott Mitchell and former Grand Slam winner Scott Waites all crashed out in the group stages - Glen Durrant, Darryl Fitton, Jamie Hughes, Danny Noppert and Jeff Smith remain as the BDO look to win the event for just the second time.After a race to five legs in the group matches, the second round turns into a best of 19 contest with the first man to 10 legs making it through to Fridays quarter-final stage. Wednesdays Order of Play Gerwyn Price v Brendan Dolan Phil Taylor v Jeff Smith Michael van Gerwen v Robert Thornton Peter Wright v Daryl Fitton Topping the bill at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Wednesday night is world No 1 Van Gerwen, who is red hot favourite to defend the title he won for the first time last year.The Dutchman has won 23 times on tour this year including the UK Open, Premier League, World Matchplay and the World Grand Prix and in Robert Thornton he faces a revitalised opponent who doesnt have to look too far back for a high-profile win over Van Gerwen.The Scot beat Van Gerwen to claim the Grand Prix title in Dublin last year but since that title The Thorn has suffered a string of early tournament exits and an eighth place finish in the Premier League but he has shown glimpses of the form that has made him a two-time major winner.Van Gerwen claimed all three group games for the loss of just four legs, while Thornton needed a nine-leg shoot-out against Dimitri van den Bergh to progress having lost to Gerwyn Price after victories in his opening two matches. Robert Thornton beat Dimitri Van den Bergh in a thrilling nine-dart shoot-out, winning by just five points Also in action on Wednesday is Phil Taylor, the 16 time world champion showed that he is getting back to his best with victory in the Champions League of Darts and has his sights set an another big title.Sky Sports expert Wayne Mardle believes the leg format suits Taylor better than a sets format as there are less pressure darts.That will be put to the test against 2016 BDO runner-up Jeff Smith, who beat Simon Whitlock on Wednesday to clinch his place in the last 16. Jeff Smith edged out Simon Whitlock for the final place in the last 16. Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC Taylor was beaten 5-0 by Darren Webster in the final match of his group and having won his opening fixtures in routine fashion it remains to be seen whether that defeat to the Demolition Man was just a blip. Darren Webster stunned Phil Taylor at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton Potential for match of the night comes in the final game of the evening when Peter Snakebite Wright continues his quest for a maiden major televised title against another BDO representative, the experienced Darryl Fitton.After losing to the Power in his opening group game. Fitton rallied to beat both Webster and Ian White 5-4 to quality for the second round and he will look to emulate the quarter-final place he made on his debut in 2008 to mark a memorable return to the event he has missed for each of the last five years.Kicking off the second-round action will be the clash between Northern Irelands Brendan Dolan and Welshman Gerwyn Price.Dolan beat Martin Wolfie Adams to secure his place in the knockout stages, while Price ended up topping his standings after a 5-3 win over Thornton on Wednesday night. Thursdays Second Round matches Jamie Hughes v Chris Dobey Benito van de Pas v James Wade Gary Anderson v Danny Noppert Raymond van Barneveld v Glenn Durrant Watch Wednesday nights matches at the Grand Slam of Darts from 7pm on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports Darts returns on December 12 with the World Championship underway from Deceember 15. #LoveTheDarts Live Grand Slam of Darts November 16, 2016, 7:00pm Live on Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass Also See: Is there a PDC-BDO rivalry? Thornton survives mis-count Vapormax Hvid Danmark . Ricciardo made it only halfway around the Jerez track before his RB10 rolled to a stop and began spouting smoke from the back. After team mechanics tended to the car, Ricciardo went back out for a mere two trips around the circuit before calling it quits. Vapormax Sort Herre Danmark . Canada was placed in one of the easiest groups during Saturdays live televised draw in Montreal. http://www.vapormaxdanmark.com/vapormax-dame-sko-danmark.html . After all, the No. 8 seed is chasing far loftier goals. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., defeated American Jack Sock 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in Wimbledons second round on Thursday.TORONTO - Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey said he often gets asked about Drake.I get texts: Do you know Drake? Have you met Drake? He sits there every night, he hears me cuss out the referees every night, Casey said, laughing. He knows all my cuss words.Part rapper, part Raptors mascot, Drake is the basketball teams global ambassador, and has his own courtside seat at the Air Canada Centre, about an arms length away from where Casey paces and hollers at the referees.The rapper-songwriter hosted his second annual Drake Night, on Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre, as the Raptors played Brooklyn for the first time since the Nets ousted Toronto in the first round of last seasons playoffs.A sell-out crowd of 19,800 fans received keepsake Drake Night T-shirts. Drake announced the Raptors lineup pre-game before taking his usual courtside seat. He spent some time at the broadcast table doing guest commentary.Do I hear Dwane Casey use foul language? Drake was asked in a humorous pre-game scrum with reporters. He just always says high hands. Hes always screaming high hands. Honestly, I sit right beside him, and I cant understand a word that hes saying. I dont know how the players know what to do. It just all sounds like random words that come to his mind. Hell just be like, A-1 sauce!Drake said while the night was named for him, it was all about a Raptors team that is enjoying its best start in franchise history.Its really about this team just doing what theyve been doing all year, which is just being incredible, he said. I had some conversations with a couple of the guys and just really asked them to overdo it tonight for me.I hate to be redundant, but I just care so much about the city and the people in it and night after night, its amazing to see all these seats sold out, he added. Nike Vapormax Dk. Sports is a huge part of my life, and its just great to see people from all walks of life, Toronto itself is such a mosaic of different people from different cultures and different walks of life and you look around the building and you see all these people just coming together for a great squad, a great game.Drake said he was given a choice of visiting teams for his night this season. Brooklyn was an obvious choice after the Nets dispatched the Raptors in Game 7 of the opening round of the playoffs last season.If theres anybody that I want to beat, its the Nets, Drake said. I think if we have a rivalry at all, I think this would probably would be it. Obviously, Ive got much love for New York and Brooklyn but in this particular arena at this particular moment, the one thing I want to do is knock out Brooklyn.Drake has come to know the Raptors players well, and attributes their success to their chemistry.Being part of an ensemble cast, it involves the meshing of all personalities. I can testify because I was on Degrassi where there were 12 kids trying to co-exist, and everybody wanted to be a star, he said. Once you have a common goal in mind as opposed to a personal goal, thats when things really start to click.They have a real family vibe going on. . . These guys love each other. They care about each other. It shows in our record. Im excited for this stretch, and Im excited for the stretch where we play the over-500 teams. I think thats going to be the real test.After Sundays game versus the visiting New York Knicks, the Raptors head west for a tough six-game road trip. ' ' '