Luke Littler is in the line-up for this month’s Bahrain Darts Masters and Netherlands Darts Masters, his first events since his incredible World Championship run.
The 16-year-old shot to global stardom by reaching the World Darts Championship final at Alexandra Palace on Christmas Day.
The Nuke narrowly missed out against Luke Humphries on January 3, but he had already won a huge number of new fans and helped set Sky Sports’ darts viewership record. .
Unsurprisingly, the PDC moved to capitalize on the teenager’s cult following, keeping him in their Premier League line-up and including him in the first two World Series of Darts events of the year.
These are the Bahrain Darts Masters (January 18-19) and the Netherlands Darts Masters (January 26-27). In the former, eight PDC representatives will play against eight Asian players, and in the latter, eight PDC representatives will play against eight Benelux players.
Littler has gone from being an outstanding prospect to standing alongside the world’s best players at these invitational events designed to grow the sport on a global scale.
PDC said: “The World Series of Darts circuit will visit the USA, Denmark, Poland, Australia and New Zealand during 2024, before the season-ending World Series of Darts finals will be held in Amsterdam. ” he explains.
Bahrain darts masters lineup
PDC representative
Luke Humphries (England)
Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
Michael Smith (UK)
Nathan Aspinall (England)
Gerwyn Price (Wales)
Rob Cross (England)
Peter Wright (Scotland)
Luke Littler (England)
Asian representative
Lawrence Ilagan (Philippines)
Paolo Nebrida (Philippines)
Reynaldo Rivera (Philippines)
Man Lok Leung (Hong Kong)
Haruki Muramatsu (Japan)
Tomoya Goto (Japan)
Abdullah Saeed (Bahrain)
Hasan Haji (Bahrain)
Following the World Series game, Littler will join up with his seven fellow Premier League players on the opening night of the tournament in Cardiff on February 1st.
There will be 16 weeks of Premier League matches in the UK and Europe before the play-offs take place at London’s O2 on May 23rd.
Dutch darts masters lineup
PDC representative
Luke Humphries (England)
Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands)
Michael Smith (UK)
Nathan Aspinall (England)
Gerwyn Price (Wales)
Rob Cross (England)
Peter Wright (Scotland)
Luke Littler (UK)
Benelux representative
Danny Noppert (Netherlands)
Dirk van Duijvenbode (Netherlands)
Dimitri van den Berg (Belgium)
Raymond van Barneveld (Netherlands)
Germaine Wattimena (Netherlands)
Jan van Veen (Netherlands)
Vincent van der Voort (Netherlands)
Kevin Deutz (Netherlands)
Littler is enjoying a well-earned break with his family, but said after being selected for the Premier League: “As soon as I got off the stage last night.” [in the World Championship final] The manager pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to do it.
“I said to my mom and dad, ‘Let’s do it.’ Like I finished runner-up here, it may never happen again. I have to take advantage of every opportunity I get. It’s going to be incredible.
“My parents told me it was going to be tough and I wouldn’t be able to go home, but let’s go on the road and have fun.” We’ll have to wait and see, but I knew what was going to happen the moment I decided to join the Premier League. ”
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