Van Gerwen eyeing back-to-back World Series titles as darts heads to Saudi Arabia

Brad Ferguson

Michael van Gerwen picked up the title in BahrainTaylor Lanning / PDC

Michael van Gerwen will be aiming for consecutive World Series of Darts titles against India's Nitin Kumar as the Riyadh Season Saudi Arabia Darts Masters gets underway on Monday.

The tournament will be staged for the first time on January 19th and 20th at the Global Theater, marking darts' debut in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Van Gerwen arrives in Riyadh with early-season momentum, having claimed victory at the Bahrain Darts Masters to open the 2026 World Series campaign.

The three-time world champion is now chasing successive titles as he looks to impose himself once again on the regional swing.

The Dutchman has been drawn against Kumar in the opening round, one of the most recognisable figures in Indian darts and is one of eight Asian Tour representatives set to face elite PDC opposition on the opening night.

Reigning world champion Luke Littler will face Singapore veteran Paul Lim for the second World Series event in succession, while world number two Luke Humphries meets Japan's Ryusei Azemoto with a place in the quarter-finals on offer.

Elsewhere, Bahrain runner-up Gian van Veen takes on Japan's Motomu Sakai, and former world champion Gerwyn Price opens his campaign against Alexis Toylo, the most recent winner on the PDC Asian Tour.

Nathan Aspinall renews his rivalry with Lourence Ilagan following their meetings in Bahrain and at Alexandra Palace, while Stephen Bunting is drawn against Tomoya Goto, a two-time World Championship qualifier.

Danny Noppert, currently the Netherlands' third-ranked player, begins his campaign against Hong Kong's Man Lok Leung, with a quarter-final against either Aspinall or Ilagan awaiting the winner.

After Monday's opening round, the tournament moves swiftly into its conclusion on Tuesday evening.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all be played in a single extended session as the remaining eight players compete for the inaugural Saudi Arabia Darts Masters title.

An additional incentive runs throughout the event, with a $100,000 bonus available to any player who lands a nine-dart finish. That prize could be doubled through the introduction of the Riyadh Season Bullseye.

If a nine-darter is achieved, the player will earn a single dart at the bullseye to double the reward to $200,000, a figure that would represent the largest nine-dart prize ever offered in PDC competition.