LUKE DOWN
Luke Littler stunned by rival 36 YEARS older than him as Nuke loses in first round for third major tournament in a row
Littler missed out on a feisty reunion with Ricardo Pietreczko in the second round
LUKE LITTLER had an awful European Championship debut as Andrew Gilding struck gold on the oche.
Littler, 17, lost for the first time to Goldfinger as he was dumped out of the Dortmund tournament in a 6-4 first-round loss.
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Gilding, who is 36 years the senior man, was never behind in the contest and even though the Nuke managed to draw level at 3-3 and 4-4, it ended up being a shock result.
Teen sensation Littler had lost in the opening round of the World Matchplay in Blackpool and the World Grand Prix in Leicester.
And even though he is the Premier League champion, he will be flying back early to the UK following this surprise defeat.
It also means that there will not be a feisty reunion with German star Ricardo Pietreczko in the second round – the pair clashed in dramatic scenes earlier this year.
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Gilding, who led 3-0 at one point, made amends for losing to Littler when he was a seed at the last PDC World Darts Championship second round.
He said: “I didn’t expect this, watching how Luke had played lately.
“I am always short of self-belief. I never expect to win a game.
“Especially against Luke and especially as I had an awful cold as well. I am on the tailend of that. I felt awful coming up to this.
“I did say beforehand I wanted to cross him off the list. It was the third time I’d played him. So it’s third time lucky.
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“It's a huge win. The last thing I had expected. Nobody expected this.
“I was thinking about the flights home on Saturday. The way he had played lately was exceptional. I was resigned to losing. In practice, I was awful until the last hour but it came together.”
Luke Littler's conqueror Andrew Gilding on Nuke's 'loose darts' after scoring massive shock win
In the match before, Peter Wright was dethroned as European champion as he was embarrassed 6-0 by Holland's Jermaine Wattimena with the Scotsman averaging just 74.81.
It was the sixth consecutive year that the defending champ had gone out in the first round.
Inside Littler's massive rise
LUKE LITTLER has taken the darts world by storm since exploding onto the scene at the PDC World Championship at the beginning of the year.
The Nuke reached the final on his Ally Pally debut at just 16 years of age - smashing records along the way.
He has then gone on to win a host of PDC events and the Premier League title - which he claimed at the O2 Arena by beating world champion Luke Humphries in May.
He also finished his first season in the World Series as the No1 ranked player.
He has joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
And the teenage titan even had to snub an invite from the WWE.
The Sun exclusively revealed that Littler is plotting to create a fitness empire.
He is also cashing in away from the Oche thanks to an Instagram side hustle.
And he's even the face of a brand new cereal.
But he is newly single after splitting from girlfriend Eloise Milburn following a 10-month relationship.
Check out all of our latest Luke Littler stories.
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