World Championship runner-up Luke Littler will make his World Series debut later this month following the 16-year-old’s stunning breakthrough at Alexandra Palace.

The Professional Darts Corporation has included Littler in the line-ups for the Bahrain Darts Masters and the Dutch Darts Masters after hitting the headlines around the world for his remarkable run to the record-breaking world final last week.

‘The Nuke’ lost 7-4 to Luke Humphries, denying him one of the greatest sporting stories of all time by becoming the youngest world champion, but his exploits have opened up several doors.

He has already secured a Premier League place and will now be part of the 16-player fields at the two-day events at the Bahrain International Circuit on January 18-19 and Maaspoort Den Bosch on January 26-27.

Humphries will be announced on stage as world champion for the first time in Bahrain, while Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Peter Wright and Rob Cross will all be competing against eight local representatives in both tournaments.