Bahrain Darts Masters 2026 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play
The first silverware of the new season is up for grabs as the final eight face off at the 2026 Bahrain Darts Masters on Friday.
The eight PDC stars safely progressed through Thursday’s opening round at the Exhibition World and will now collide in a bid to remain on course for the £30,000 top prize.
The opening quarter-final sees 2024 Bahrain Masters champion Luke Littler take on two-time runner-up Gerwyn Price.
Less than a fortnight after becoming only the fourth player in PDC history to retain the World Championship title, Littler returned to televised action bidding to replicate his famous triumph in Bahrain two years ago which saw him land a nine-darter in the process.
The 18-year-old, who has racked up four World Series titles, is unbeaten in televised competition since last October’s European Championship and has averaged over 100 in 17 of his last 18 televised matches.
Littler started out with a crushing 6-1 victory over 71-year-old darting icon Paul Lim, averaging 106.5 and landing a trademark 170 checkout in an historic contest which featured a staggering 53-year age gap.
Price, runner-up here in 2023 and 2025, sealed his fourth World Series title at last year’s Poland Masters and also picked up a European Tour title and a further four Players Championship titles in 2025.
However, he suffered a shock straight sets defeat to Wesley Plaisier at the recent World Championship and survived a scare in his opener in Bahrain, averaging just 86 to edge out Japan’s Motomu Sakai 6-4.
Ominously for Price, he has lost his last seven meetings with Littler in all competitions dating back to last March.
Reigning champion Stephen Bunting steps up the defence of his title with a showdown against three-time World Champion Michael van Gerwen.
Bunting clinched the first of two World Series titles last season here in Bahrain and went on to pick up two European Tour titles and a further pair of Players Championship titles during the year.
Despite a dip in form at the backend of the campaign, including a shock exit to James Hurrell at the World Championship, Bunting has retained a place in this year’s Premier League and started the campaign with a routine 6-2 win over Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto on Thursday.
Van Gerwen has racked up a staggering 22 World Series titles, including last year’s World Series Finals on home soil in the Netherlands.
The world number four saw his World Championship hopes ended in the fourth round by Gary Anderson at Ally Pally last month and was forced to dig deep in order to see off methodical left-hander Alexis Toylo 6-4 on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, world number two Luke Humphries comes up against two-time major champion Nathan Aspinall.
Humphries, twice a World Series event winner, saw his World Championship title tilt ended by Gian van Veen in a 5-1 quarter-final rout on New Year’s Day.
The reigning Premier League champion registered a third consecutive 6-0 whitewash of Bahrain’s Abdulla Saeed in the opening round, averaging 103.6 in the process.
Aspinall, a three-time European Tour event winner last year, missed out on a place in the Premier League but commenced his bid for a first World Series title since 2019 with a hard-fought 6-4 win over PDC Asian Champion Lourence Ilagan.
World Cup of Darts teammates Van Veen and Noppert also go head-to-head for a place in the semi-finals later in the evening.
A remarkable season for Van Veen saw him capture a maiden major title at the European Championship before embarking on a dream run to the final of the World Championship – where he was ultimately dismantled by Littler.
The new Dutch number one safely saw off Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung 6-2 in round one but will be eyeing a marked improvement on his match average of 91.
Noppert enjoyed a terrific season in major competition last year, reaching four televised ranking semi-finals, as well as the semi-finals of the World Cup of Darts and the final of the Hungarian Darts Trophy.
The world number ten utilised his vast experience to thrash Bahrain qualifier Basem Madmood 6-1 with a 93 average in round one.
The action gets under way from 4pm GMT, with quarter-final ties to be contested over the best of 11 legs, semi-finals best of 13 and the final best of 15.
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Bahrain Darts Masters 2026 Day Two Schedule
All times GMT (local time +3 hours)
Friday January 16
4pm-8pm
Quarter-Finals
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Gian van Veen v Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals
Littler/Price v Van Gerwen/Bunting
Humphries/Aspinall v Van Veen/Noppert
Final
