Luke Littler, 16, wins Bahrain Masters with huge win over Michael van Gerwen

19 January 2024 , 20:00

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Luke Littler has been crowned the Bahrain Masters champion (Image: BIC)

Sixteen-year-old sensation Luke Littler continued his meteoric rise to be crowned the Bahrain Masters champion after beating former world No.1 Michael van Gerwen.

Littler, whose stunning breakthrough was the story of the World Championships last month, beat Man Lok Leung, Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price en route to the final in Bahrain, before seeing off Van Gerwen 8-5 during a topsy-turvy showdown.

Littler got off to a winning start before Van Gerwen bounced back to level after punishing the teenager, who missed two darts at double 10. 'The Nuke' edged back in front before Van Gerwen, in rampant style, responded and made it 2-2.

Both players continued to fend off break opportunities as Littler won the fifth and seventh legs to go into the mini-interval with a 4-3 advantage, needing just four more legs to win his first World Series event.

Having missed a chance to break Van Gerwen at double eight, Littler made no mistake as he found double four to romp 5-3 ahead. However, Van Gerwen wasn't about to crumble as he broke straight back, before winning the 10th leg to level at 5-5 after Littler missed five darts at double four.

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That didn't seem to effect Littler as he regained his composure to move into a 6-5 lead. 'The Nuke' then broke van Gerwen in the 12th leg to move to within one leg of claiming the Bahrain Masters title. And Littler kept his cool to hit double 20 at the first time of asking to earn a 8-5 win.

Luke Littler has won his first ever World Series event on debut (BIC)

When quizzed on his historic victory, Littler told ITV4: "I'm happy to win, I played well yesterday and I've played well again tonight. No one probably believes me but I've not threw a dart since the world final.

"Michael is one of the very best and I'm happy to win on my debut. It's been unbelievable this week and I'm happy to come out as the winner."

Speaking after his defeat, van Gerwen told ITV4: "It's never going to be a good week when I'm not winning but Luke had a fantastic performance. Everyone knows what he is capable of - let him grow, let him do his thing.

Michael van Gerwen does his walk-on in the Bahrain Masters final (BIC)

"I couldn't produce what I produced in the earlier games and you get punished and that's the way sport works. Of course I'm disappointed but you win some, you lose some. I'll get him, don't worry!"

Littler has endured a meteoric rise in recent weeks since making his World Darts Championship debut. The teenager beat Christian Kist in the first round at Ally Pally, before going on a historic run to reach the final, having earned wins over Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan and Rob Cross along the way.

However, Littler was stopped in his tracks by Luke Humphries in the final as 'Cool Hand' romped to a 7-4 victory. After a two-week break from darts, Littler returned to action in Bahrain on Thursday in his first World Series event. He breezed past Lok Leung in the first round, before beating Aspinall, Price and van Gerwen to win the tournament and take home the top prize of £20,000.

In his quarter-final success over Aspinall, Littler hit a sensational nine-darter in the opening leg, becoming the youngest ever player to strike the perfect leg in a World Series event.

Kieran King