Nathan Aspinall failed to start his 2025 season with a title win at the Bahrain Darts Masters. The 33-year-old Englishman went down 6-5 against Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals in the opening tournament of the 2025 World Series of Darts. As it turns out though, Aspinall may have been hampered by a bug bite during the tournament.
Aspinall had previously survived the first round against the Chinese number one Xiaochen Zong, yet he did not have the best preparation for that match by any means. Indeed, the former UK Open and World Matchplay champion suffered from severe swelling and pain in his elbow, causing a doctor to advise him to go to the hospital just hours before his opening match against Xiaochen Zong.
"I got bit, so I was in hospital until the early hours. I woke up and it was like a balloon. I'm like: Oh my god, not my injury again. But I seen a doctor and he advised me to go to hospital," Aspinall said of the situation. "I went to hospital and, at at four o clock [on Thursday], I didn't know if I would be playing it was that bad. But the tablets that I've been on and icing it and stuff like that, it's kind of died down. It's still really sore, but we'll get through this weekend and, hopefully, it it's just a five-day thing. It was a long night."
As mentioned, Aspinall eventually won 6-2 over Zong in the first round. A day later he was allowed to return for his quarterfinal against Luke Humphries and 'The Asp' clearly appeared to have recovered from his bug bite. He recorded a 100+ average, but that still proved to be insufficient to beat former world champion. Aspinall, however, can face the upcoming tournaments with confidence after this performance.
WHAT A SHOT FROM HUMPHRIES 🙌
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) January 17, 2025
It's breathtaking from Humphries as he pins a 123 checkout to beat Nathan Aspinall 6-5 in a thrilling opener on Day Two.
📺 https://t.co/hHaJAJfFOa#WorldSeriesDarts pic.twitter.com/qxjxWMUODw