Darts world champion Luke Littler was unable to defend his title from last year at the Bahrain Masters and left the tournament early. The 17-year-old’s undoing was an extremely weak doubles rate.
Darts world champion Luke Littler lost his first title again. The young Brit failed to defend his title at the Bahrain Masters. Already in the quarter-finals he said goodbye to the tournament after a weak performance with a 2:6 defeat against the Welshman Gerwyn Price.
As in his first match after winning the world title, Littler was not in world champion form against Price. “The Nuke” played a strong average of 105.1 points. However, the 17-year-old only hit doubles on two of his nine attempts (22 percent).
Price did much better. The Welshman worked himself into a bit of a frenzy on the board and recorded an incredible three-dart average of 115.3 points. He also hit 60 percent of his attempts on doubles (6/10). Littler was no match for that on Friday.
Littler wins in darts world rankings
Good for Littler: Because he has not yet competed in Bahrain in 2023, the early exit has no negative impact on the world rankings. Ultimately, he even receives 5,000 pounds in the Order of Merit for his participation in the quarter-finals. The youngest world champion of all time will not have to defend prize money until 2026.
Price continued his journey to the final after beating Littler. Here he had no chance against the strong Stephen Bunting and lost 4:8. “The Bullet” quickly took a 4-1 lead and defended this lead until the end.
The key to success for Bunting was the double rate of 47 percent (8/17). Price, on the other hand, only hit four of his 13 attempts in the final (30 percent).