Luke Littler suffers incredible defeat as world champ crashes out of ...

Luke Littler encountered his first red line in the sand as reigning world champion after being ambushed by Gerwyn Price in the desert.

In the iconic BIC Dome where he won his first senior title as a 16-year-old 12 months ago, Luke the Nuke waved goodbye to childhood with a 6-2 defeat by the Iceman in the Bahrain Darts Masters quarter-finals.

His first defeat as world champion was also his last competitive appearance before adulthood. Littler will celebrate his 18th birthday at home on Tuesday reflecting on the slings and arrows of fortune which deserted him on the Persian Gulf.

At face value, the world No.2 did little wrong, averaging 105.12 and hitting five maximums, but as he observed after his PDC World Championship triumph at Alexandra Palace earlier this month, Littler has a target on his back now. And Price, averaging a sensational 115.31 and missing double 12 for a nine-darter, was simply unstoppable.

Gezzy warned he was out to spoil the party, and he was as good as his word. Over the best of 11 legs short course, Littler never stood a chance once he went 4-1 down as Price nailed seven 180s and answered the critics who claimed he was lucky to keep his Premier League place. And it was Price’s third consecutive win against the Warrington man-child after beating him 7-6 in New York last June and 8-1 in Australia two months later.

Now the Iceman is Luke the Nuke’s bogeyman.

For Littler, who plans to spend some of his £1.5 million prize money in 2024 on an A-Class Mercedes as “a present to myself” for his birthday, it doesn’t get any easier. Next stop is the Dutch Darts Masters on Thursday, where Michael van Gerwen - the three-times world champion he demolished 7-3 in the final at Ally Pally - will be lying in wait.

But Price, who attributed his poor form in 2024 to being “distracted” by his business interests away from the oche, is showing signs of the swagger which brought him a world title behind closed doors four years ago. And the champ who opened and fish and chip shop in his home town of Markham no longer gets battered everywhere he goes.

Elsewhere, World number one Luke Humphries came through a thrilling battle with Nathan Aspinall in the opening match of the day, winning the deciding leg to progress 6-5.

Humphries will meet Stephen Bunting after he produced a dominant performance to thrash Chris Dobey 6-0.

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