The 2025 Bahrain Darts Masters gets underway on Thursday, as reigning champion Luke Littler makes his first appearance since lifting the World Darts Championship title earlier this month.
Littler will headline the year's opening World Series of Darts event in The Dome at the Bahrain International Circuit, as a 16-player line-up compete for an increased £100,000 prize fund on January 16-17.
The 17-year-old sensation will kick off his title defence against PDC Asian Champion Lourence Ilagan, with world number one Luke Humphries pitted against local qualifier Abdulla Saeed.
Third seed Rob Cross takes on Philippines' World Cup star Paolo Nebrida, with 2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price up against Hong Kong's Lok Yin Lee in his opener.
World Championship semi-finalists Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey will make their Bahrain debuts on Thursday evening, as they take on India's Nitin Kumar and Bahrain's number one Basem Mahmood respectively.
Elsewhere, two-time World Champion Peter Wright meets PDC Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Alexis Toylo, while 2023 World Matchplay winner Nathan Aspinall takes on PDC China Champion Xiaochen Zong.
The Bahrain Darts Masters will be broadcast live on PDCTV in all territories other than Germany, Austria & Switzerland (coverage via DAZN), and on ITV4 and ITVX for UK viewers.
Coverage will begin from 1700 GMT on Thursday, with Friday’s final stages getting underway from the earlier time of 1600 GMT.
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2025 Bahrain Darts Masters
Schedule of Play
Thursday January 16 (2000 local time, 1700 GMT)
First Round x8
Rob Cross v Paolo Nebrida
Gerwyn Price v Lok Yin Lee
Stephen Bunting v Nitin Kumar
Chris Dobey v Basem Mahmood
Luke Humphries v Abdulla Saeed
Luke Littler v Lourence Ilagan
Peter Wright v Alexis Toylo
Nathan Aspinall v Xiaochen Zong
All matches best of 11 legs