MICHAEL Smith's reign as Bahrain Darts Champion ended on amazing night of arrow-throwing.

The St Helens ace, who won the inaugural title at Bahrain International Circuit last year, went out in the semi-finals against eventual runner-up Michael van Gerwen.

It was 16-year-old Warringtonian Luke 'The Nuke' Littler, who crafted his skills at the St Helens Darts Academy, who sealed his first senior PDC prize on his World Series of Darts debut.

Dutchman Van Gerwen, the most successful World Series of Darts player of all time, edged out Smith 7-6 but was beaten by the new kid on the block 8-5 in the final showdown.

Smith had his chances in his tense tussle with Van Gerwen after demolishing Scotland's Peter Wright 6-1 in the quarter-finals earlier in the night.

But it was The Nuke's party, signalled from the very first leg of his quarter-final against Nathan Aspinall when he erupted with a perfect nine-darter - the youngest ever to manage the feat in a televised PDC event.

It was a thrilling semi though between Smith and Van Gerwen.

The pair could barely be separated as the tie went to a deciding leg, which the Dutchman took with a 110 checkout.

New World Champion Luke Humphries saw his 20-game winning streak end with a quarter-final exit at the hands of Gerwyn Price, who then lost to Littler in the semi-finals.

Following the PDC's successful second visit to Bahrain, the World Series of Darts now heads to the Netherlands for the TOTO Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch on January 26-27.

2024 Bahrain Darts Masters Quarter-Finals results:

Gerwyn Price 6-4 Luke Humphries

Michael Smith 6-1 Peter Wright

Luke Littler 6-3 Nathan Aspinall - Luke Littler hits nine-dart finish

Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Rob Cross

Semi-Finals:

Luke Littler 7-3 Gerwyn Price

Michael van Gerwen 7-6 Michael Smith

Final:

Luke Littler 8-5 Michael van Gerwen