World Cup of Darts: Wales' Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton beat Finland in round one
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Price and Clayton: 'Slow start...let's see what more's to come'
Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton made a successful start to their World Cup of Darts defence with a 5-2 victory over Finland in Jena, Germany.
The Wales duo face Lithuania Saturday's second round after Darius Labanauskas and Mindaugas Barauskas beat Hungary 5-3.
Price and Clayton have dominated darts since winning the title last November,
The World Cup is the only chance in the PDC calendar for players to play for their countries.
Since winning the World Cup for the first time in Salzburg, Price, 36, has won the 2021 World Championship, became world number one and won a European Tour title and two Players Championship titles.
Clayton, 46, has won the 2021 Masters, 2021 Premier League of Darts and two Players Championships titles.
Price went into this year's tournament having recently won the inaugural Hungarian Darts Trophy, his fourth European Tour title.
Despite the Welsh pair's successes in the last year, they began the World Cup as second seeds behind England's Dave Chisnall and 2021 UK Open Champion James Wade.
Wade, 38, is featuring in the competition for the first time since 2010.
Rivals Scotland beat China 5-0 in their opener while England's challenge begins on Friday against Brazil.
Scotland are without two-time world champion Gary Anderson, but 2020 world champion Peter Wright is back after being absent last year.
The annual 32-nation World Cup tournament is in its eleventh edition with the format including singles and doubles matches.