Littler Advances As Big Names Avoid Upset

Luke Littler was victorious on his World Series of Darts debut while Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith survived scares before advancing to Friday’s action, as the 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters got underway in Sakhir.

Littler Wins On World Series Debut

Luke Littler was victorious on his return to action, the teenage star making his first appearance since his fairytale run to the final of the 2024 World Darts Championship that gripped the nation.

‘The Nuke’ who turns 17 on Sunday, took on Man Lok Leung, the Hong Kong star that defeated Gian van Veen in an Ally Pally thriller before falling to Gabriel Clemens.

In fact it was Leung that took the early advantage, checking out 107 in the opening leg despite Littler leaving 84 after nine darts and missing seven darts at double, before doubling his advantage in the next leg.

Littler responded emphatically by winning the next five legs on the spin, including 151 and 136 checkouts in consecutive legs, before Leung stopped the rot to reduce the deficit to two legs.

A third ton plus checkout of 120 sealed victory for Littler, ending with a 98 average and four maximums.

Smith and Aspinall Survive Scares

Former World Champion survived match darts as he overcome Paolo Nebrida of the Philippines in a last leg decider.

Smith, who won the inaugural Bahrain Masters twelve months ago, looked to have seized the advantage when breaking the Nebrida throw in the seventh leg but the Filipino hit back in the very next leg, taking out 118 to break back and then held throw to go 5-4 up.

A 15 dart leg from Smith set up a decider, Nebrida starting the leg with three visits of 100 and leaving 52 after 15 darts. Two match darts at 32 subsequently came and went before ‘Bully Boy’ took out 47 in two darts to set up a clash with Peter Wright on Friday.

Nathan Aspinall also survived two darts as he overcome Lourence Ilagan, also of the Philippines. Ally Pally regular Ilagan had been 3-1 and 5-3 up, throwing for the match at 5-4 when missing match darts before ‘The Asp’ clinched the win with a 12 darter.

Rest Of The Action

Recently crowned World Champion Luke Humphries celebrated his first match as World Champion by winning through against Bahrain qualifier Abdulla Saeed without dropping a leg, averaging 98 in the process.

Michael van Gerwen also whitewashed his opponent, averaging 106 against another Bahrain qualifier Hasan Haji.

Peter Wright won through a last leg decider against Japan’s Haruki Muramatsu, defying a 170 checkout from the Japanese ace in the fourth leg to set up a quarter final with Michael Smith.

Gerwyn Price defeated Reynaldo Rivera of the Philippines to secure his spot in the quarter finals. Rivera, who featured at Ally Pally, losing to Keane Barry in the first round, actually averaged more than the former World Champion but it was Price that won out by 6 legs to 4, setting up a clash with Luke Humphries.

Rob Cross saw off the challenge of Japan’s Tomoya Goto, averaging 95 to set up a tie with Michael van Gerwen.

Results

Thursday January 18

First Round

Peter Wright 6-5 Haruki Muramatsu

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Reynaldo Rivera

Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Lourence Ilagan

Rob Cross 6-3 Tomoya Goto

Luke Littler 6-3 Man Lok Leung

Luke Humphries 6-0 Abdulla Saeed

Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Hasan Haji

Michael Smith 6-5 Paolo Nebrida

Friday January 19 (1900 local time, 1600 GMT)

Quarter-Finals

Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price

Michael Smith v Peter Wright

Nathan Aspinall v Luke Littler

Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross

Best of 11 legs

Semi-Finals

Humphries/Price v Aspinall/Littler

Van Gerwen/Cross v Smith/Wright

Best of 13 legs

Final

Humphries/Price/Aspinall/Littler v Van Gerwen/Cross/Smith/Wright

Best of 15 legs