Luke Littler put on an impressive performance against Paul Lim at the Bahrain Masters on Thursday, 12 days on from his successful title defence at the World Darts Championship
Luke Littler admitted he won’t come close to having the longevity of Paul Lim after thrashing the 71-year-old darts legend to reach the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Masters. Littler cruised through 6-1 in his first match since winning the World Darts Championship earlier this month.
The 18-year-old star showed no signs of rustiness, averaging over 106 to dispatch his opponent, who is 53 years his senior. Littler also treated the crowd to a 170 ‘Big Fish’ check-out in the process and will now take on Gerwyn Price in the last eight of the competition after the Welshman saw off Motomu Sakai 6-3.
Littler’s match with Lim was played in great spirits and the two-time world champion paid tribute to his opponent afterwards. “Not a chance! I will say it now,” he said when asked if he will still be playing in his 70s.
“He’s just class and I wonder when is he going to retire? He still goes very strong in the practice room as well.”
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“Paul’s been performing well for many, many years,” he added. “Thankfully I was able to kick on and get the win. I think the World Championships would have been a different breed. Obviously he is a fan favourite, but it was the same tonight when he got his first leg and made it 1-1 but I started to kick on and got the win.
“It’s always good to be back in Bahrain. This is the start of the new season for us, and you want to start the year off right, with a title.”
Littler, the world No.1, was playing 12 days on from retaining the Sid Waddell Trophy and becoming the first player to secure back-to-back world championship titles since Gary Anderson a decade ago. After going one set down, Littler thrashed Gian van Veen 7-1 to lift the trophy and win the £1million prize and celebrate with £150-worth of pizza.
Second seed Luke Humphries thrashed Abdulla Saeed 6-0, Van Veen beat Man Lok Leung 6-2, Michael van Gerwen saw off Alexis Toylo, Nathan Aspinall edged past Lourence Ilagan and defending champion Stephen Bunting beat Ryusei Azemoto to reach the next round in Bahrain.
After Bahrain will come Saudi Arabia and the chance for Littler and co to boost their earnings in a new way. Players have the chance to win $200,000 (£149,000) if they can hit a nine-dart finish followed by a ‘Golden Bull’ in Riyadh next week.
The World Series of Darts is visiting Saudi Arabia for the first time, with eight PDC Tour representatives set to face off against eight Asian Tour representatives. If a player hits a nine-darter they will win a $100,000 (£74,700) prize before getting the unique chance to double it by throwing one ‘golden’ dart at the bullseye.
