PETER WRIGHT is aiming to avoid a "potential banana skin" when he faces Haruki Muramatsu in the Zipang Casino Japan Darts Masters on Satuday night.
The world number five has drawn arguably the leading Japanese opponent for the first round of the PDC World Series of Darts event, which kicks off on Saturday at the Osanbashi Hall in Yokohama.
Muramatsu is a four-time World Championship qualifier and World Cup of Darts representative for his country who also became the first Japanese player to win a PDC Tour Card in January 2015.
While Wright - March's UK Open runner-up and a former Dubai Darts Masters finalist - is aiming to go all the way to glory in Japan, he insists that he cannot take Muramatsu lightly in their first round contest.
"I've never played him before but I've seen him in the World Championship and at the World Cup and he's a good player," said Wright.
"He's got better and better in the last few years and I had a sneaky feeling that I'd draw him because before we did the draw I was chatting to Michael van Gerwen and we'd said that he was one of the top players in Japan.
"It's a potential banana skin for me and I've got to be on top of my game to beat him, but I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm happy with my game and, since the World Cup a couple of weeks ago, I've gone back to using the darts which got me to the UK Open final and that I hit a nine-darter with, so I'm feeling good.
"It would be fantastic to win this weekend, especially because it's a brand new event in a country we've never played in before."