Littler and Price go head-to-head (Photo by Kelly Deckers/PDC)
The first World Series silverware of the season is up for grabs at the Bahrain Darts Masters on Friday as the final eight face off for the title.
Seven PDC stars and one Asian representative will battle it out for the £30,000 top prize at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Paolo Nebrida made history by becoming the first player from the Philippines to win a match on the World Series, and the 30-year-old will be eyeing another high-profile scalp when he meets Peter Wright.
Nebrida, who reached the Third Round of the recent World Championship, continued his impressive run of form by knocking out world number four Rob Cross in Thursday’s opening round.
Wright, making his 50th appearance in a World Series event, battled his way to a 6-3 victory over the methodical Alexis Toylo, and the two-time World Champion now looks to put paid to the hopes of another Filipino star.
The reward for the winner of that tie is a semi-final showdown with either defending champion Luke Littler or 2023 runner-up Gerwyn Price.
Littler capped off a remarkable first season on the PDC circuit by becoming the sport’s youngest ever World Champion at the age of 17, adding to his Premier League, World Series Finals and Grand Slam triumphs in 2024.
Now, just four days shy of his 18th birthday, ‘The Nuke’ resumes his first televised title defence at the scene of a memorable triumph 12 months ago – where he landed a nine-darter en route to victory.
Littler fired in four 180s and a 142 checkout on his way to defeating Lourence Ilagan 6-3 on Thursday night, and he is bidding to maintain his record of having reached at least the semi-final stage of every World Series event he has featured in so far.
Price enjoyed much of his success on the World Series last season, claiming the Nordic Masters and Australian Masters titles, while also finishing runner-up in the US Masters.
The Welshman defeated Littler in both the US Masters and Australian Masters, notably thrashing the youngster 8-1 in the final in Wollongong.
The opening quarter-final tie sees world number one Luke Humphries take on two-time major winner Nathan Aspinall.
Humphries saw his reign as World Champion brought to an end by a resurgent Peter Wright in the Last 16 at Ally Pally, though another memorable year for ‘Cool Hand’ included winning the World Matchplay, World Cup of Darts and retaining the Players Championship Finals title.
Humphries began the new season with an emphatic 6-0 whitewash of Bahrain qualifier Abdulla Saeed with a 103.6 average and a flawless six from six on the doubles.
Aspinall reached his only major ranking quarter-final of the season at the World Championship, going down 5-2 to eventual champion Littler on New Year’s Day.
The popular Stockport star has secured a return to the Premier League in 2025 and will be keen to build up a head of steam between now and the start of the 17-week roadshow event, having started out with a routine 6-2 win over China’s Xiaochen Zong.
Two players returning to the Premier League line-up in 2025 go head-to-head as reigning Masters champion Stephen Bunting faces former Masters champion Chris Dobey.
Bunting enjoyed a terrific run to a second PDC World Championship semi-final and was rewarded with a return to the Premier League for the first time in a decade, and the crowd favourite was in fine form on Thursday as he overcame India’s Nitin Kumar 6-2 with high checkouts of 145 and 122.
Dobey, who reached the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time a fortnight ago, made a perfect start in Bahrain by whitewashing local qualifier Basem Mahmood with four 180s and 75 per cent on the doubles.
The action gets under way from 4pm GMT, with quarter-final matches 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 2025 Day Two Schedule
All times GMT (local time +3 hours)
Friday January 17
4pm-8pm
Quarter-Finals
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Stephen Bunting v Chris Dobey
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Paolo Nebrida v Peter Wright
Semi-Finals
Humphries/Aspinall v Bunting/Dobey
Littler/Price v Nebrida/Wright
Final
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