Bahrain Darts Masters 2026 | Day One Preview and Order of Play

The 2026 Bahrain Darts Masters gets under way on Thursday as the PDC stars look to avoid an upset at the hands of Asian opposition.

The opening World Series event of the year features eight PDC stars and eight Asian representatives battling it out for the £30,000 top prize at the Exhibition World.

The fourth staging of the tournament sees the PDC big guns each drawn against an international representative in the opening round as they bid to safely progress to Friday’s quarter-finals.

Reigning champion Stephen Bunting commences the defence of his title with a showdown against Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto.

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 will be keen to hit the ground running in 2026.

Azemoto makes his debut in the event following a successful Asian Tour campaign in 2025, and was beaten in straight sets by James Wade on his Ally Pally debut last month.

World number one and back-to-back World Champion Luke Littler starts his quest to regain the date palm trophy with a high-profile tie against Singapore legend Paul Lim.

Just 12 days on from becoming only the fourth player in PDC history to retain the world title, Littler returns to televised action bidding to replicate his 2024 triumph in Bahrain.

The 18-year-old, who has racked up four World Series titles, is unbeaten in televised competition since last October’s European Championship and starts out with an historic clash against 71-year-old Lim.

An extraordinary 53-year age gap between the two players marks a new darts record, with Lim having made his Lakeside debut in 1982, before Littler’s mother had even been born.

Lim, WDF world finalist in 2024, pulled off an historic victory over Jeffrey De Graaf at Ally Pally last month before losing out in straight sets to Luke Humphries in Round Two.

Humphries begins his 2026 campaign against a familiar opponent in Bahrain qualifier Abdulla Saeed.

The duo have met in each of the last two stagings of the Bahrain Masters, with Humphries running out an emphatic 6-0 winner on both occasions.

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.

Van Veen marks his Bahrain Masters debut with a tie against Hong Kong star Man Lok Leung in a repeat of their World Champion encounter two years ago.

Leung famously prevailed in a deciding set on that occasion – his most high-profile performance to date which saw him average 96 and land 11 maximums.

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.

Last year’s Bahrain Masters runner-up Gerwyn Price raises the curtain on the competition with a tie against Japan’s Motomu Sakai.

Price, who also finished runner-up here in 2023, 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.

Sakai made an unforgettable impact with his walk-on at Ally Pally last month, defeating Thibault Tricole in straight sets before losing out to Sweden’s Andreas Harrysson in the second round.

Michael van Gerwen, the most successful player in World Series history, opens up against methodical left-hander Alexis Toylo.

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 three-time World Champion saw his Ally Pally campaign ended in the fourth round by Gary Anderson and will be determined to start the new season strongly.

Toylo, last year’s Asian Championship runner-up, featured in both the Grand Slam and World Championship and returns for a second successive Bahrain Masters appearance after losing 6-3 to Peter Wright last year.

Nathan Aspinall and Lourence Ilagan go head-to-head in a re-run of last month’s World Championship first round contest.

Aspinall recovered from a set down to defeat the reigning PDC Asian Champion 3-1 before seeing his run ended by Kevin Doets in the Last 32.

Aspinall, a three-time European Tour event winner last year, missed out on a place in the Premier League and will be keen to start the season strongly in an attempt to win a first World Series title since 2019.

Meanwhile, former UK Open champion Danny Noppert marks Bahrain debut with a tie against home hopeful Basem Mahmood.

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 missed out on a debut spot in the Premier League and will be out to utilise his vast experience against Bahrain’s Madmood – who was whitewashed by Chris Dobey in last year’s opening round.

The action gets under way from 4pm GMT, with first round matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

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Bahrain Darts Masters 2026 Day One Schedule

All times GMT (local time +3 hours)

Thursday January 15

First Round

4pm-8pm
Gerwyn Price v Motomu Sakai
Gian van Veen v Man Lok Leung
Danny Noppert v Basem Mahmood
Nathan Aspinall v Lourence Ilagan
Luke Humphries v Abdulla Saeed
Luke Littler v Paul Lim
Michael van Gerwen v Alexis Toylo
Stephen Bunting v Ryusei Azemoto