Littler praises 'class act' Lim after big win in Bahrain
Back-to-back world champion Luke Littler made a winning start to the Bahrain Darts Masters with a dominant 6-1 victory over Paul Lim, as Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price also progressed to the quarter-finals. In his first appearance since successfully retaining the Sid Waddell Trophy at the Alexandra Palace on January 3, where he extended his advantage as world No 1, Littler brushed aside the fans’ favourite who is 53 years his senior. Littler - who won his first World Series of Darts title at this event in 2024 - fired a 106.5 average and posted two ton-plus finishes during a one-sided contest, where he delivered the first ‘Big Fish’ checkout of the tournament and converted six of his eight attempts at double. The Nuke now faces a quarter-final showdown with Gerwyn Price, who beat Littler at the same stage of last year’s event, after ‘The Iceman’ struggled past fans’ favourite Motomu Sakai 6-4.World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen thrashed Man Lok Leung 6-2 and Humphries despatched Abdulla Saeed in straight legs for the third straight year, while Michael van Gerwen, defending champion Stephen Bunting, Danny Noppert and Nathan Aspinall also reached the last eight.
