Luke Littler will make his appearance at the Bahrain Darts Masters on Thursday night. For the 16-year-old teenage sensation, it will be his World Series of Darts debut, after the PDC decided to throw him to the lions immediately after his sensational World Championship heroics.
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Littler had a phenomenal debut at the World Darts Championship, making it all the way to the final thanks to victories over Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross, among others. Littler was then allowed to dream of a world title, but despite holding a 4-2 lead, 'The Nuke' eventually succumbed 7-4 to Luke Humphries.
The question was whether the PDC dared to use Littler right away as a crowd-pleaser for invitational tournaments, that was answered in the affirmative. The Englishman will also play at the World Series tournament in Den Bosch next week before making his appearance in the Premier League Darts.
"It's back to business for me now,'' Littler admitted in conversation with the PDC. The English prodigy decided to withdraw for some time after the World Darts Championship. "My life's changed and my family's life has changed and I'm grateful for the opportunities I'm getting."
Littler does have to admit that he hasn't had much time for practice recently however. "I've chilled out and not really thrown many darts since the World Championship final, but I'm sure that once I'm in the practice room I'll be alright, and hopefully I can have a good event here."
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.