By Harry Eddolls
The World Series of Darts returned for another year tonight with the opening day of the Bahrain Darts Masters.
Eight of the PDC’s biggest stars faced off against eight representatives from Asia for a place in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
The first match of the night saw Gerwyn Price face the Ally Pally cult hero Motomu Sakai.
The Creature nearly got off to the perfect start, but a poor back end saw Price storm in to take the opening leg with a 107 out. That wouldn’t get Sakai down however, as he broke straight back then held to take the lead.
The match then went through a spell of five straight breaks of throw, which left Price 5-4 up and throwing for the match. The Iceman kept his cool, holding in leg ten to put to bed a good fight from Sakai, and move into the quarters with a 6-4 win.
The next match saw world finalist Gian van Veen face Hong Kong’s Man Lok Leung. The match began with four straight holds of throw, to leave the score locked at 2-2.
Leung missed a few opportunities during that spell to open up a lead in the match, and he would come to rue those misses. Van Veen found some form, storming through the next four legs to secure a 6-2 win and a place in the quarters.
Another Dutchman starred in the next encounter, as Danny Noppert met one of the Bahraini qualifiers in Basem Mahmood. The Freeze started well, storming into a 3-0 lead, and it looked like Mahmood may go a third straight appearance without winning a leg.
But then in the fourth leg, the Bahraini had his moment, pinning double two for a 13-dart leg. It would be his only highlight though, as Noppert won the next three legs to secure a comprehensive 6-1 victory and move into tomorrow’s action.
Taking us to the halfway point of the evening was a rematch of the World Championship first round tie between Nathan Aspinall and Lourence Ilagan. The match began with a trade of holds, before The Asp drew first blood, breaking then holding to open up a 3-1 lead.
That began a run of four straight holds, before Ilagan found a break of his own in leg eight to level at 4-4. Parity would be short lived for the Filipino however. Aspinall broke straight back before holding his nerve on throw in the next to secure a 6-4 win and make it 4/4 for the PDC stars heading into the second half of the night.
The next match saw Luke Humphries face Abdulla Saeed for the third straight year. It was to be as routine as usual when these two meet, a 6-0 win for Cool Hand with a 103.66 average to see him breeze through to the quarters.
Fresh from defending his world title, Luke Littler took to the stage next, against Paul Lim, 53 years his senior. Littler won the opener, before Lim held to leave the match level early on.
There was then a big moment in leg three, as Littler reeled in the big fish 170 out to regain the lead. The Nuke then stormed away from there. He won the next four legs, which included a 121 out in leg five, to secure a comfortable 6-1 victory and make sure he returns tomorrow.
The penultimate match saw Michael van Gerwen face Filipino Alexis Toylo. The match began with eight straight holds, which included a 104 out from MVG which levelled the game at 4-4.
It felt like the game would be won off a mistake, and it was Toylo who blinked first, allowing Van Gerwen to break in leg nine to go within a leg of the match. He wasted no time in getting the job done, holding in leg ten to come through a battle with a 6-4 win and a place in the quarters.
The final match of the first round was between defending Bahrain Master Stephen Bunting and Ryusei Azemoto of Japan. Azemoto took the first leg, but then The Bullet turned on the burners, winning five straight legs to put him within a leg of the match.
Azemoto stopped his run by taking the seventh leg, but was only delaying the inevitable. Bunting held in leg eight, despite missing multiple darts at double, to secure a 6-2 win, and make it a perfect eight for the PDC stars in the first round.