Thursday’s first round pits eight players from the PDC circuit against eight players from Asia in best-of-11 leg matches.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final are all scheduled to take place on Friday.
Littler, who has had some time off since his exploits at Alexandra Palace, missed three attempts at double five in the first leg as he went 2-0 down. However, he then reeled off five consecutive legs before sealing his victory against the world number 126.
Meanwhile, new world champion Luke Humphries extended his 19-match winning run with a resounding 6-0 victory over the host nation’s Abdulla Saeed.
The world number one has also won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals in recent months and is bidding to lift his fifth televised title in the space of six events.
Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen won by the same 6-0 scoreline against Bahrain’s Hasan Haji.
Scotland’s two-time world champion Peter Wright was pushed close in a 6-5 win over Japan’s PDC Asian Championship winner Haruki Muramatsu, as was England’s Michael Smith, who came out the right side of a 6-5 score against Paolo Nebrida.
Wales’ Gerwyn Price beat Filipino Reynaldo Rivera 6-4 and Rob Cross secured a 6-3 win over Tomoya Goto after the Japanese thrower took three consecutive legs to level at 3-3.
