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Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 | Day One Preview and Order of Play

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Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

Luke Littler enjoys winning World Series debut in Bahrain Masters as Aspinall and Smith survive scares

Jamie Shaw in Bahrain Darts Masters 18 Jan 2024

Luke Littler reacts (Photo by BIC)

Luke Littler enjoyed a winning debut at the Bahrain Darts Masters on Thursday, as Peter Wright, Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith came through last-leg deciders.

A fortnight on from his historic debut run to the final of the World Championship, Littler continued his blistering form by defeating Man Lok Leung 6-3 on the opening night of the World Series event at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Leung capitalised on a slow start from the 16-year-old to open up a 2-0 lead, finishing 107 in the first leg before adding an 83 checkout on the bullseye.

Littler, however, finished 77 to get off the mark in leg three, levelled on double ten and then produced checkouts of 151 and 136 on his way to a 5-2 lead, before finishing 120 in leg nine to clinch victory.

The World Youth champion now faces Nathan Aspinall in Friday’s Quarter-Finals, after the World Matchplay champion survived a huge scare in his opener.

Aspinall survived two missed match darts from Lourence Ilagan before completing his comeback from 5-3 down to edge out the 2023 PDC Asian Tour number one with a brilliant 12-darter in the deciding leg.

Ilagan came from a leg down to lead 3-1, and also moved 5-3 up before Aspinall produced back-to-back 14-dart legs to save the game – surviving misses at double 16 and double eight from Ilagan – before finishing 102 for a 12-darter to snatch victory.

“I started off well but he couldn’t miss a double and he put me under pressure,” said Aspinall.

“As I always do, I found a way to win and I think I pulled out three fantastic legs at the end. I’m very happy to get the win and it’s a big day tomorrow.”

“Lourence is a fantastic player who’s been around for many years and I knew I had a tough game.

“The inclusion of the Asian Tour players has been great and they’ve shown how good their standard is.”

Luke Humphries recorded an emphatic 6-0 whitewash of Bahrain qualifier Abdulla Saeed to mark a perfect start to life as World Champion.

The world number one averaged over 98 and closed out a strong display against the qualifier with a 108 checkout as he moved through to a Quarter-Final tie with Gerwyn Price.

“I’m really pleased and obviously it was a decent performance,” said Humphries, who has now won 20 consecutive matches in all competitions.

“Abdulla played really good in patches, so it was important that I put in a good performance myself.

“I felt good up there and it was a solid performance; my scoring was good, my doubling was okay and I did what I needed to do.

“I hope the winning run keeps continuing. This is a fantastic World Series event, it’s a great place to come and it would be a really nice one to put on my CV because the next thing for me is to win a World Series event.”

Peter Wright defied a 170 checkout from Haruki Muramatsu as he came from 3-2 down to wrap up a 6-5 win over the PDC Asian Champion.

“I got away with it,” admitted Wright. “It was always going to be a difficult game after changing my set-up and my standing position, but I got there in the end and I can take the positives.

“Haruki played well and you can see the Asian players getting better and better now. They’re quality darts players and they want to be World Champion.”

Defending champion Michael Smith was another player to survive two missed match darts in a dramatic finale to his tie with Paolo Nebrida.

The Filipino ace pushed Smith all the way, finishing 118 to level in leg eight before moving 5-4 up, but he was punished for missing two darts at double 16 in the deciding leg as Smith pounced to keep alive his hopes of retaining the trophy.

“I was too inconsistent and gave him chances, but I was putting too much pressure on myself,” said Smith. “It was a good test and luckily enough I’m back in the next round.”

Price also endured some nervy moments before closing out a 6-4 win over Reynaldo Rivera, after the Filipino hopeful took out 104 in leg nine to keep his hopes alive and missed tops to take their tie into a deciding leg.

Michael van Gerwen was another whitewash winner, averaging 106 in a 6-0 rout of Bahraini qualifier Hasan Haji.

“My darts were going well and overall I can’t complain – to win 6-0 with a 106 average is always how you want to start a tournament,” said Van Gerwen.

“I’ve never won this event and I quite like this trophy, so I want to win tomorrow!”

The Dutchman’s next opponent will be Rob Cross – who sealed his spot in the Last Eight with a 6-3 win over Tomoya Goto, despite the Japanese ace hitting back from 3-0 down to level the tie.

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Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 Day One Results

Thursday January 18

Round One

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

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Luke Littler enjoys winning World Series debut in Bahrain Masters as Aspinall and Smith survive scares

Bahrain Darts Masters 2024 Day One Results

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