Luke Littler was thrashed by Gerwyn Price at the Bahrain Darts Masters (Image: X: @ITVSport)
Defending champion has been sent crashing out of the Bahrain Darts Masters after suffering a heavy 6-2 defeat at the hands of .
World No. 2 Littler, who won his first title earlier this month, averaged more than 105 in his quarter-final against Price. But ‘The Iceman’ was in a class of his own, averaging north of 115 and hitting six of his 10 attempts at double.
Stephen Bunting set the tone earlier in the day by dispatching Chris Dobey 6-0 with a dominant display. But Price was even better, with his average setting a new tournament record and earning him a spot in the semi-finals later tonight (Friday).
As soon as Price broke Littler in the fourth leg to take a 3-1 lead, the Welshman made himself virtually uncatchable. He held his own throw to go 4-1 up, and then missed double 12 for a show-stopping nine-darter in the sixth leg.
Such was the standard of the contest, Littler ended up snatching that leg, but that was the 17-year-old’s last shred of joy in Bahrain as Price put two more on the board, including a match-winning break of throw in the eighth.
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The World and defending champion, Luke Littler, is out!Gerwyn Price marches into the semi-final decisively ?????? | |
— ITV Sport (@ITVSport)
Price’s victory was an act of revenge after losing to Littler in last year’s Bahrain Darts Masters semi-finals. The youngster went on to win the tournament – his first senior PDC title – by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final.
Littler defeated Lourence Ilagan in the opening round on Thursday, despite being well short of his best, to win his first competitive outing in the two weeks since his stunning win over Van Gerwen at the worlds.
The 2007-born talent has racked up well over £1million in prize money since turning pro, but he is no longer in contention for the £30k bonus on offer in the Middle East after being trumped by Price.
Luke Humphries and Nathan Aspinall kicked off a bumper evening of darts action with a quarter-final which narrowly went the way of Humphries.
Bunting and Dobey were next up, before Littler and Price’s quickfire first-to-six-legs showdown. The overall winner will be decided this evening (Friday) with the quarters, semis and final to be played in one session.
Luke Littler won his first World Darts Championship on January 3 (Image: Getty)