The 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters kicked off on Thursday with Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen returning with victories but giving three stars a scare in the first round.
The PDC World Series of Darts event at The Dome at the Bahrain International Circuit will see 16 players compete over two action-packed days, with the first round headlined by recent World Series of Darts events. They were the championship finalists.
Humphries got off to a strong start as world champion with a 6-0 win over Bahrain’s Abdullah Saeed.
The new world number one averaged over 98 and had a strong qualifying performance with a 108 checkout, earning him a draw with Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals.
“I’m really happy and obviously it was a great performance.” said Humphries, who has now won 20 straight games. “Abdullah played really well in the patch so it was important for me to perform well.
“I felt good there, it was a solid performance, I scored well, I had no problem doubling, I did what I had to do.
“I hope the run continues. This is a great World Series event. It’s a great place to come. The next thing for me is winning a World Series event, so it’s really nice to have on my resume.” is.” “
Teenage sensation Littler made his long-awaited return with a 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung.
Leon took advantage of the World Championship finalist’s slow start to open a 2-0 lead and finished the first leg on 107.
But Littler opened his account with a 77 in leg three to tie the score at double ten, then posted checkouts of 151 and 136 on his way to a 5-2 lead before posting a 120 in leg nine for the win. We have collected.
The former US Darts Masters winner overcame a huge scare in the opening round of Bahrain and the now 16-year-old will face Nathan Aspinall in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Aspinall overcame two dart errors from Lawrence Ilagan to come back from a 5-3 deficit and hit a stunning 12 darts in the final match to claim number one on the 2023 PDC Asia Tour.
Ilagan rallied from leg down to take a 3-1 lead and then 5-3 before Aspinall saved the game with consecutive 14-darter legs – Ilagan’s double 16 and double 8. Survived Mistakes – 12 darters to finish at 102 for the win.
“I got off to a good start, but he couldn’t get the double off and put pressure on me.” Aspinall said.
“We found a way to win, as we always do, and I think we came out with a great three legs at the end. I’m very happy to win and tomorrow will be a big day.”
Aspinall added: “Lawrence is a great player who has been around for a long time and we knew it was going to be a tough match.
“The participation of the Asian Tour players was great and showed how good their standards are.”
Peter Wright defied Haruki Muramatsu’s 170 checkout and came back from a 3-2 deficit to secure a 6-5 victory over the eventual PDC Asian Championship champion.
“I managed to escape.” Wright said. “It’s always going to be a difficult game after we change our setup or position, but we got there in the end and we can take a positive look at it.
“Harki played well and you can see that the Asian players are getting better and better. They are quality darts players and want to be world champions.”
Reigning champion Michael Smith was another player who survived two mismatched darts in a dramatic finale with Paolo Nebrida.
The Filipino ace pushed Smith all the way to the end, leveling the score at 118 in the eighth leg and moving up 5-4, but Smith pounced on hopes of maintaining his elegant style, resulting in a double in the deciding leg. Penalized for missing two darts on 16. Date palm trophy.
“I gave him a chance because I was so inconsistent, but I was putting too much pressure on myself.” said Smith. “It was a good test and I was lucky to come back for the next round.”
Welsh ace Price also kept his hopes alive with the Filipino up-and-comer scoring 104 points in the ninth leg, before missing out on the lead and taking the final leg to the final leg with a 6-4 victory over Reynaldo Rivera. I endured a tense moment.
Van Gerwen was also the whitewash winner, averaging 106 points and defeating Bahrain qualifier Hasan Haji.
“My darts are going well and overall I can’t complain. A 6-0 win with an average of 106 is how the tournament started.” He said.
“I want to win tomorrow because I have never won this event and I really like this trophy!”
The Dutchman’s quarter-final opponent was Rob Cross, who beat Tomoya Goto 6-3 to book his place in the quarter-finals, despite the Japanese ace fighting back from a 3-0 deficit to equalize. is.
Following the first round on Thursday, the 2024 Bahrain Darts Masters will conclude on Friday with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in one bumper session.
Bahrain Darts Masters will be broadcast live. PDCTV Available in all territories except Germany, Austria and Switzerland (broadcast via DAZN).
UK viewers can watch Friday’s final stage on ITV4 from 16:30 Japan time.
2024 Bahrain Darts Masters
Thursday, January 18th
1st round
Peter Wright 6-5 Haruki Muramatsu
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Reynaldo Rivera
Nathan Aspinall 6-5 Lawrence Ilagan
Rob Cross 6-3 Tomoya Goto
Luke Littler 6-3 Man Lok Leung
Luke Humphries 6-0 Abdullah Said
Michael van Gerwen 6-0 Hasan Hadji
Michael Smith 6-5 Paolo Nebrida
Friday, January 19th (19:00 local time, 16:00 GMT)
Quarter finals
Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price
Michael Smith v Peter Wright
Nathan Aspinall v Luke Littler
Michael van Gerwen vs Rob Cross
best of 11 legs
Semi-final
Humphreys/Price v Aspinall/Littler
Van Gerwen/Cross vs Smith/Wright
best of 13 legs
Last
Humphries/Pryce/Aspinall/Littler v Van Gerwen/Cross/Smith/Wright
best of 15 legs