LUKE ‘The Nuke’ Littler is up and running in the 2025 Bahrain Darts Masters.

The Warrington 17-year-old returned to the scene of his maiden senior title success last year in his first appearance as world champion, following his heroics at Alexandra Palace over the festive period.

He booked himself a quarter-final clash with Gerwyn Price tomorrow, Friday, with an opening-round victory over 2024 PDC Asian Championship winner Lourence Ilagen.

The pair last met en route to ‘The Nuke’ winning the Grand Slam of Darts in November and although Littler was nowhere near his vintage best and did not have things all his own way in Bahrain he was never behind and progressed 6-3.

He held a 4-1 lead before Ilagen made a game of it with back-to-back leg victories but Littler showed his class to finish things off, averaging 94.36 in the process.

Littler, playing with a new set of arrows, fired in the first of his four match 180s on his way to a 14-dart hold of throw to go 1-0 ahead.

The Gunner responded with an 18-dart leg after some poor scoring by Littler’s high standards.

Littler missed the bull for a ‘big fish’ 170 finish and was wayward with two throws at his favourite double 10 before wrapping up the third leg on his next visit in 16 darts.

Then came the break Littler wanted with a 14-darter to go 3-1 in front.

A missed double for a 107 finish was corrected on the next visit as ‘The Nuke’ further strengthened his stranglehold.

Ilagen missed five doubles before holding throw in 20 darts to reduce the deficit to 4-2 as Littler showed signs of a wobble.

'The Nuke' scored only 51 in his first six arrows of the seventh leg as Ilagen went on to break the world champion in 17 darts.

But a 142 finish from Littler restored order for the teenager as he instantly broke back and was never in danger with the arrows in his favour as he concluded matters inside The Dome.