Darts teen wonderkid hailed as ‘once-in-a-generation player’ with rivals ‘bricking it’ at prospect of facing him
LUKE LITTLER is being held up as a ‘once-in-a-generation player’ — and pundits think his rivals will be ‘bricking’ themselves at Ally Pally.
The World Darts Championship starts on Friday with 96 players involved over 16 days of action.
One of the interesting plotlines of this year’s event, sponsored for the first time by Paddy Power, will be the involvement of a 16-year-old wunderkind.
Warrington ace Littler is the reigning world youth champion and has hit incredible averages on the Modus Super Series, earning a PDC Tour Card for 2024-25.
Having not long taken his GCSEs, the teen might have been considered a lamb to the slaughter under the lights at Alexandra Palace.
But this kid has already shown the temperament and self-assurance to hold his nerve on the oche.
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Glen Durrant, a three-time world champ at Lakeside, is convinced he can go far on his debut.
Speaking at last week’s SunSport darts event in London, Duzza, 53, said: “I rate Luke. I’d rate him even if he got beaten in the first round.
“He’s got something special. He has that real X factor.
“I remember watching Michael van Gerwen when I first went on the BDO circuit. He was very young. It was the Norway Open, which he won at the age of 16.
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“I saw him and thought, he’s a once-in-a-generation player. I think Luke Littler at 16 is better than Van Gerwen was at the same age.
“He has excellent rhythm. He’s very mature. He looks older than 16. He has handled everything very, very well so far.
“There is a lot of scrutiny. But he just brushes it aside.
"His confidence right now, it’s a good time for him to go to Ally Pally.
“He is on a free roll, so why not go and enjoy it.” Littler is scheduled to face Dutchman Christian Kist — the 2012 BDO world champion — in the first round on December 20.
Whoever wins that will take on No 20 seed Andrew Gilding, who won this year’s UK Open.
“Luke the Nuke” would bank £25,000 in prize money if he wins two matches before Christmas.
Paul Nicholson — commentator for talkSPORT at Ally Pally, who won 2010’s Players Championship Finals — said: “Luke just plays with a level of patience and integrity and has a strong head on young shoulders.
"He is the kind of player we have been waiting for since maybe Michael van Gerwen turned up in 2005-06.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on Littler.
"I want him to go out there and enjoy every experience until he is of an age where we can classify him as a senior player.
“We all saw what happened with MVG when he was 16-17 years old. We heaped the pressure on him.
“He won big titles at that same kind of age but then he had this lull for about four or five years where the pressure was too much.
"I think it’s important we just let Luke off the leash, ‘Go do what you can do young man’.
“But I promise you one thing, I wouldn’t want to be Christian Kist or Andrew Gilding in that draw.
“With Kist, who is unfortunately not in the best of form or health, it looks very winnable for Luke.
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“As for Andrew Gilding right now, he will be bricking it because — let’s face facts — if he goes up against Littler, the crowd will be for Luke.
"I can see Luke getting to round three minimum.”