Bahrain Darts Masters: Luke Littler beats Paul Lim in first match since World Darts Championship success as Luke Humphries also continues | Arrow News
Back-to-back world champion Luke Littler made a successful start to the Bahrain Darts Masters with a dominant 6-1 win over Paul Lim, as Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price also advanced to the quarter-finals.
In his first appearance since successfully retaining the Sid Waddell Trophy at Alexandra Palace on January 3, where he extended his chances of becoming world No. 1, Littler brushed aside the 53-year-old fan favourite.
Littler – who won his first World Series of Darts title at the event in 2024 – averaged 106.5 and hit two over two tons in the one-sided contest, where he produced the first ‘Big Fish’ of the tournament and converted six of his eight double attempts.
Nuke now faces a quarter-final clash with Price, who defeated Littler at the same stage of last year’s event, after the ‘Iceman’ struggled past fan favorite Motomu Sakai 6-4.
World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen beat Man Lok Leung 6-2 and Humphries edged out Abdulla Saeed on the straight legs for the third consecutive year, while Michael van Gerwen, defending champion Stephen Bunting, Danny Noppert and Nathan Aspinall also reached the last eight.
Littler and Humphries produced a statement for the games
Lim missed the chance to break Littler in the opening leg but finished with a 74 at the next level, before ‘The Nuke’ took control following his 170 outing in the third by breaking the veteran in the fourth leg with an 11 darter.
The 18-year-old added a 121 checkout to advance and didn’t miss a double arrow until his match-winning leg, where he sealed a 14-date victory to book a meeting with Price in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Littler dropped one leg during Paul Lim’s stunning victory
“Paul has been doing well for years,” Littler said. “He’s a class player and he’s still going, but I’m thankful I was able to go on and get the win. It’s always good to be back in Bahrain. This is the start of a new season for us, and you want to start the year well, with a title.”
Price needed to finish 107 to sneak a tough opening leg from Sakai, who broke the Welshman several times and passed him but saw a poor finish derail his hopes of a famous victory.
Gerwyn Price fired an 11-dart leg to help book a last-eight meeting with Littler
Van Veen also capitalized on goals from Leung to reach the last 8, coming back from 2-1 down to play five legs in a row and set up an all-Dutch quarter-final with Noppert.
Bahraini Basem Mahmood won his first leg of the event but was thrashed 6-1 by Noppert, while his home favorite Saeed had one double arrow when he lost in straight legs to Humphries.
“I’m very happy with the way I played,” admitted Humphries, who averaged 103.66 and will play Aspinall for a place in the semi-finals. “I want to come here and start the season a little better than I usually do, and try my best to continue training this year.”
Aspinall cruised past PDC Asian Champion Ilagan 6-4, in their return at the World Darts Championship last month, as Van Gerwen came back from 4-3 down to beat Alexis Toylo by the same scoreline.
The Dutchman will continue his pursuit of a record-extending 17th World Series of Darts crown against Bunting, who benefited from a double miss from Ryusei Azemoto to start his campaign for back-to-back titles in Bahrain with a 6-2 success.
Can Stephen Bunting successfully defend his title in Bahrain?
Bahrain Darts Masters: Friday edition
Quarter Finals (best of 11 legs) – from 4.15pm
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Gian van Veen v Danny Noppert
Semi-Finals – Best of 13 legs
Littler/Price v Van Gerwen/Bunting
Humphries/Aspinall v Van Veen/Noppert
Final – Best of 15 legs
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