“He is a serious threat”: the 16-year-old becomes the secret favorite of the Darts World Cup

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“He’s the best teenager I’ve ever seen.” With these words, darts legend Phil Taylor (63) describes the 16-year-old mega talent Luke Littler. “He will be one of the best of all time.” And when a sixteen-time world champion says that about you, it must mean something.

What the youngster is currently showing at the World Cup is incredible. After the unequivocal 3-0 victory against Christian Kist on his World Cup debut, ‘The Nuke’ followed up on Thursday and defeated world number 20, Andrew Gilding (53). “I’m glad I can come back after Christmas,” Littler says of his coup. He makes the gift to himself: he is guaranteed 25,000 pounds (about 27,000 francs).

“He is a threat”

The fans celebrate him, experts can’t help but be amazed. They even go so far as to believe Littler will win the world title. Ex-professional and Sky pundit Mark Webster, 40, said: “This isn’t just a statement performance, this is title form and he is now a serious threat in this competition.”

Wayne Mardle (50, four times in the semi-finals of the World Cup) praises the junior world champion: “Fearless. Without damage. Brilliant. Why couldn’t he win the tournament?” But it is not only experts who have a lot of confidence in him: Littler is in the top 5 candidates for the title by various betting providers.

At the age of 14 he took part in the World Amateur Championships

Littler loves playing darts and has done so all his life. When he was 18 months old, he was already throwing magnetic darts, “at four o’clock I played on a small disc, and at nine o’clock I played real darts.” He threw his first 180 at the age of six and his first nine-darter at the age of thirteen – many other professionals were taking up darts for the first time at this time.

In December 2021, when he was only 14 years old, he took part in the WDF (World Darts Federation) Amateur World Championship. Because the professional association, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), has an age limit of 16 years, Littler had to wait until his debut. Right on his 16th birthday (January 21), the outspoken Manchester United fan qualified for the UK Open and played his way to round four in his PDC debut.

And now, some ten months later, he’s causing a stir at Ally Pally. The next person standing in his way is Canadian Matt Campbell. The 34-year-old eliminated four-time World Cup semi-finalist and co-favorite James Wade (40) in the second round. This means that Littler would not play a top 20 player until the quarter-finals. But the youngster does not want to look too far ahead: “I take it one match at a time.”

Source : Blick