Bahrain played host to the first darts event following the 2026 World Championship, and it wasn’t all plain sailing for the favourites in Sakhir.
The 2026 darts season got underway with the curtain-raising Bahrain Darts Masters at Exhibition World Bahrain in Sakhir, where the best players in the world squared off against some of Asia’s finest.
Although all of the big names progressed, there was only one whitewash on day one in the desert, with Luke Humphries defeating Abdulla Saeed 6-0. There could have been even more success for the underdogs had they taken their chances.
THE BULLET BEGINS HIS DEFENCE
In the final game of the day, reigning Bahrain champion Stephen Bunting faced Japan’s Ryusei Azemoto.
After losing the opening leg, The Bullet recovered to establish a two-leg lead heading into the fifth. Despite a nervy final leg, in which he missed multiple match darts and Azemoto managed to pinch a second leg, Bunting completed a 6-2 victory and secured a clean sweep for the PDC stars.
MIGHTY MIKE GETS THE JOB DONE
Michael van Gerwen will break the record for the most World Series of Darts appearances when he next competes in Saudi Arabia, having drawn level with Peter Wright on 50 appearances in Bahrain.
The slow throwing style of Alexis Toylo wasn’t enough to knock the Green Machine off his game. The Filipino gave as good as he got, however, and neither a two-leg lead nor a break of throw arrived until the closing stages, when Van Gerwen secured a 6-4 victory.
Toylo came millimetres away from producing one of the moments of the night when his attempt at a 167 checkout narrowly missed the bullseye.
BATTLE OF THE AGES
It was quite literally a battle of the ages as 18-year-old, reigning two-time World Champion Luke Littler took on the much-loved 71-year-old Paul Lim.
It went largely as expected, with youth coming out on top by five legs.
Lim did get the crowd on its feet from the outset, opening proceedings with a 180 before checking out 74 to draw level at 1-1. Littler responded with a big-fish 170 checkout soon afterwards, and from there it was business as usual for The Nuke.
LUKE KEEPS COOL
2024 World Champion Luke Humphries faced Abdulla Saeed for the third consecutive time at this event.
“Cool Hand” Luke’s first visit of their third meeting produced a maximum, signalling what was to come.
Despite missing the occasional double, Humphries completed a 6-0 whitewash, extending his aggregate advantage over Saeed to 16-0.
Saeed was denied the opportunity to take out a big fish and also came within a bullseye of checking out 161, although his third dart ultimately strayed well away from the target.
THIRD TIME AROUND
In a rematch of their opening-round ties at both the World Championship and the 2024 Bahrain Masters, Lourence Ilagan pushed Nathan Aspinall all the way but once again came up short against The Asp, this time losing 6-4.
In the third leg, Aspinall looked to have squandered a 75 finish but recovered brilliantly, finding treble 19 before landing double eight.
Ilagan was unfortunate to miss a 120 checkout after failing to hit the crucial double 20, but he made amends two darts later to take the leg.
RESUMING NORMAL BUSINESS
Three maximums and nine further scores of 100 or more helped Danny Noppert to a routine victory over Baseem Mahmood, setting up a quarter-final clash with compatriot and World Cup partner Gian van Veen.
Van Veen was only able to find one 180 in his own first-round match, but he still produced four scores of 140 or more and another four of 100-plus.
In the end, however, his opponent’s average of just 74 proved to be his kryptonite as Van Veen secured his place in the next round.
A NERVY START
The first players to step up against some of the PDC’s biggest names were Motomu Sakai and Man Lok Leung.
Both held their own against their respective opponents, Gerwyn Price and Gian van Veen.
Sakai gave The Iceman a stern test, eventually falling to the Welshman by just two legs in a 6-4 defeat.
Leung also managed to take two legs against the World Championship finalist, but Van Veen ultimately found the crucial sixth leg first to seal his progression.
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