Luke Littler started life as a world champion with a hard-fought win at the Bahrain Masters on Thursday night. Just 13 days after becoming the sport's youngest ever champion at the age of just 17, Littler was back in action as he took on Filipino star Lourence Ilagan.
In a best of 11 legs match, Littler was pushed at times by his opponent but eventually prevailed 6-3. His standout moment came in the eighth leg when he followed up a 180 with a 142 checkout. Littler won this tournament 12 months ago, and his title defence is now up and running as he secured a spot in the quarter-finals.
Littler is due to turn 18 next week, and earlier on Thursday footage was posted online of him having an early birthday celebration with his family and fellow darts stars. Luke Littler won his first match since becoming world champion on Thursday night. LITTLER SURVIVES ILAGAN SCARE ☢️Made to work at times but Luke Littler skips over the line eventually as he beats Lourence Ilagan 6-3. 📺 https://t.co/hHaJAJfFOa#WorldSeriesDarts pic.twitter.com/Q2OUAZtdxM.
The likes of Stephen Bunting and Nathan Aspinall were spotted in attendance, as well as Littler's mum, Lisa, with someone dressed in a bull costume delivering the cake, which read 'Happy Birthday Luke' and had a picture of him lifting the World Championship on.
His dad, Anthony, wrote on Instagram: 'Class night last night' on Instagram, accompanied by a cake emoji, and tagged the Buffalo Wings & Rings restaurant in Adliya Manama, Bahrain. Littler was seen on his phone at the start of the video as traditional happy birthday music started playing and staff began to play instruments.
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