venue: bahrain international circuit date: January 18th-19th coverage: Live text commentary for selected matches. Matches are scheduled to start at 16:00 GMT on both days. |
He is a 16-year-old who has captured the hearts of the nation.
Luke Littler entered the 2024 PDC World Championship as a ranked outsider, little known outside the darts world.
Three weeks later he was making a name for himself, beating two previous winners to reach the final, breaking the television record and winning the huge prize of £200,000.
Since losing to Luke Humphries in the final, Littler has continued to capture the public’s imagination.
On Thursday, world number 31 Littler will return to his day job and be back on TV screens for the Bahrain Darts Masters, which will be broadcast on ITVX.
The BBC Sport website and app will provide live text commentary for selected matches.
The event was attended by eight leading PDC players and eight “Asia representatives”, two of whom passed through the regional qualifiers.
Littler will be joined by Humphries, former world champions Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Peter Wright and world matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall.
PDC players will be separated for Thursday’s opener.
The eight winners will advance to the quarterfinals, with the semifinals and finals to be held on Friday.
The champion will receive a cash prize of £20,000.