Nathan Aspinall did not start the 2025 season by winning the championship Bahrain Dart Masters. The 33-year-old Englishman lost to the team 6:5 Luke Humphries in the quarterfinals of the opening tournament of the 2025 season World series with darts. However, as it turns out, Aspinall could have been hampered by an insect bite during the tournament.
Aspinall has already survived the first round against the Chinese number one Xiaochen Zongand yet he didn’t have the best preparation for this match. Indeed, the former UK Open and World Matchplay champion suffered from severe swelling and pain in his elbow, prompting a doctor to advise him to go to hospital hours before his first match against Xiaochen Zong.
“I was bitten so I was in hospital until the early hours of the morning. I woke up and felt like a balloon. I thought to myself, Oh my God, it’s not my injury again. But I went to the doctor and he advised me to go to the hospital,” Aspinall said of the situation. “I went to the hospital and at four in the morning [on Thursday]I didn’t know if I would play, it was that bad. But the pills I was taking and the frosting and stuff like that kind of died down. It still hurts a lot, but we’ll get through this weekend and hopefully it’s only five days. It was a long night.”
Nathan Aspinall lost 6-5 to Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Darts Masters tournament
As mentioned, Aspinall ultimately won 6-2 against Zong in the first round. A day later, he was allowed to return for the quarter-final against Luke Humphries, and “The Asp” appeared to have apparently recovered from the insect bite. He averaged 100+, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the former world champion. However, after such a performance, Aspinall can confidently enter the upcoming tournaments.
