Michael van Gerwen won the Bahrain Darts Masters for the first time after producing an imperious display to defeat Gian van Veen 8-6 in last night’s final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three-time World Champion backed up his 2025 World Series of Darts Finals success with his first taste of victory at Terminal 4 by Beyon, Bahrain, claiming an incredible 17th World Series of Darts trophy in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen saw off Alexis Toylo, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price and Van Veen to clinch the iconic date palm trophy to begin his 2026 campaign in stellar fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world number four produced a resounding performance in the final against Van Veen, taking out checkouts of 130 and 113 to storm into an early 3-0 advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen then fended off a fightback from his compatriot to take a 4-2 lead – averaging north of 109 at this stage – and cruised into a 6-2 to lead to go two legs away from the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Veen then rallied, as the World Championship runner-up reeled off three consecutive legs to reduce the deficit to a sole leg, but Van Gerwen stopped the rot by taking out a clutch 103 checkout, before finishing the job with a 66 checkout to claim glory in Bahrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To come here in Bahrain and win this trophy, it means the world to me,” said Van Gerwen, who claimed his first World Series title since January, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s special because I’ve never won this before. I didn’t have this trophy – I had the small version at home but I wanted to have this one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Everywhere I go, I always want to win and I always give 100 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve had a tough few years, but it’s more important that you keep battling your own battles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Gerwen began his title bid with a hard-fought 6-4 win over PDC Asian Tour runner-up Toylo on Thursday, and the Dutch number two reached the semi-finals after knocking out reigning champion Stephen Bunting by the same scoreline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch icon then dispatched two-time runner-up Gerwyn Price 7-2, capitalising on a poor doubling display from the Welshman to reach his 26th final in his 50th World Series appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final between Van Gerwen and Van Veen was the fourth all-Dutch World Series final, with the former winning all previous three clashes – and the 36-year-old extended this perfect record with victory over Van Veen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What Gian has been producing lately, with the World Championship final and now straight away this tournament, we are going to see a lot more of him,” said van Gerwen of his opponent in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think there will be plenty more matches between us to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He is a great talent, but I feel old now – I’m only 36!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Veen – competing in his third World Series event and first Bahrain Darts Masters – backed up his mesmerising World Championship run by reaching the final in Bahrain in impressive fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch number one accounted for Man Lok Leung 6-2 on Thursday, and blasted past compatriot Danny Noppert 6-1 with a 104 average in his opening match of Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Van Veen then battled past Nathan Aspinall 7-4 with a strong second-half performance to reach his maiden World Series final, but fell short to Van Gerwen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To be here for the first time ever, I’ve had a fantastic tournament,” said Van Veen, who averaged over 97 in all three of his games on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s good to make two finals in the last couple of weeks, but it’s two times runner-up. It’s something to work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Being a Dutchman, I always looked up to Michael, so to play him here in the final was always going to be great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m here to win the tournament, that’s why I was here and that was goal. I’m looking forward to the next tournament, but Michael was the deserved winer today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the other quarter-final ties of the evening, Price blew away World Champion Luke Littler 6-2, whilst Aspinall recorded a 104 average in taking the scalp of Luke Humphries, defeating the world number two 6-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the PDC’s successful fourth trip to Bahrain, the World Series of Darts continues with the inaugural staging of the Riyadh Season Saudi Arabia Darts Masters on January 19-20, as darts visits the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS Semi-Finals<\/strong>: Michael van Gerwen 7-2 Gerwyn Price; Gian van Veen 7-4 Nathan Aspinall\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Final<\/strong>: Michael van Gerwen 8-6 Gian van Veen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Michael van Gerwen won the Bahrain Darts Masters for the first time after producing an imperious display to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-8065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-darts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Quarter-Finals<\/strong>: Gerwyn Price 6-2 Luke Littler; Michael van Gerwen 6-4 Stephen Bunting; Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Luke Humphries; Gian van Veen 6-1 Danny Noppert<\/p>\n\n\n\n