World Darts Championship LIVE RESULTS: Action ON NOW as Searle goes through while Gary Anderson plays TONIGHT – updates

Next up - Ryan Searle vs Matt Campbell

Our first second-round tie of the day is imminent, as Ryan 'Heavy Metal' Searle prepares to take on Matt 'Ginga Ninja' Campbell.

Already a big crowd in at the Ally Pally, making themselves heard.

Huge day ahead, with eight matches in total. Pace yourselves, lads and lasses.

Let the games begin

The action is about to begin at Ally Pally. Tune in to watch it live and follow our blog for the latest updates.

Here are the games coming up:

Afternoon Session (12.30pm)

• Ryan Searle vs Matt Campbell (R2)
• Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Razma (R2)
• Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman (R2)
• Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White (R2)

Evening Session (7pm)

• Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz (R2)
• Ross Smith vs Paolo Nebrida (R2)
• Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey De Graaf (R2)
• Dimitri van den Bergh vs Dylan Slevin (R2)

What is the World Darts Championship prize money?

The total prize pot for the 2024/25 World Darts Championship is a mouthwatering £2.5 million!

And the winner will take home £500,000 of the pot just like Luke Humphries did for the 2023/24 tournament.

In addition to that, Paddy Power will pay players a whopping £60,000 for every nine-dart finish they secure.

What is the World Darts Championship format?

It will be the best of five sets in the first and second rounds of the tournament.

As the rounds progress, matches go to best of seven, then nine before reaching best of 11.

While the final will be the best of 13 sets.

The 32 highest-ranking darts players have already automatically qualified for the second round.

When will Littler play next?

After his incredible win last night, Littler has progressed to the third round of the World Darts Championship.

Third round games are expected to kick off post-Christmas. However, Littler's opponent is yet to be determined.

Depending on the outcome of today's second round, Littler will face against either Ritchie Edhouse or Ian White.

A narrow miss

The teen sensation put up an incredible 141 set average in the final set, narrowly missing out on two nine-darters to book his spot on the Ally Pally stage post-Christmas.

A look at Littler's Game

Littler got off to a slow start but managed to steal the first set by breaking Meikle's throw in the fifth leg.

He then exchanged sets with the barber from Suffolk before unleashing an incredible display to set Ally Pally alight.

First he hit back-to-back one 180s to set up the chance of a nine-darter, but fell short and had to settle for an 11-darter.

But he followed that up by repeating his 180 trick, found the target with his next two darts before his ninth finished millimetres away of double 12.

The third leg followed in a similar vein to confirm Littler's progression to the next round.

Fans' reactions

One fan wrote online: "Luke Littler single handedly ruining how the 9 darter is viewed. Used to be a rarity and now we see him threaten them every game."

Another person said: "Nobody gives you the joy on a dart board that littler does. When the kid is on he is juts unreal and so entertaining to watch."

A third fan wrote: "He's literally got the whole darting world on his shoulders he single handedly took darts to another level."

Littler's celebration

Luke Littler channeled his inner Cristiano Ronaldo after winning his first set of the PDC World Darts Championship.

The teenager got off to a shaky start in the opening exchanges against Ryan Meikle before pulling it back to win the leg, celebrating using Ronaldo's famous "Calma" celebration.

Emotional moment

THIS is the moment Luke Littler couldn't hold back his tears and ran into his parents arms.

Little cry

Luke Littler broke down in his parents' arms at the end of his first win back at Ally Pally.

The teen sensation overcame a slow start to beat Ryan Meikle after averaging 140.91 to produce the best set of darts ever seen in the World Darts Championship.

The world number four took some time to compose himself but the interview did not restart.

Instead Littler walked over to his parents Lisa and Anthony Buckley and buried his face in their arms.

Sunday's sessions

Tearful Littler

LUKE LITTLER broke down in tears and cut short a TV interview due to emotion – after he almost hit his first Ally Pally nine-darter.

The Nuke was so overcome by what he had done following his 3-1 win over Ryan Meikle in the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship that he was lost for words.

Minutes after he had missed out on achieving the perfect leg in the fourth set, the tournament favourite was put in front of the Sky Sports camera.

Littler, 17, said “I started off dead slow…” to reporter Abigail Davies but then stopped talking and had to walk away to wipe away his tears.

Saturday's results

Afternoon Session

First round

Karel Sedlacek 0-3 Rhys Griffin

Richard Veenstra 0-3 Alexis Toylo

Second round

Brendan Dolan 3-0 Lok Yin Lee

Chris Dobey 3-1 Alexander Merkx

Evening Session

Second round

Danny Noppert 1-3 Ryan Joyce

Raymond van Barneveld 1-3 Nick Kenny

Luke Littler 3-1 Ryan Meikle

Damon Heta 3-1 Connor Scutt

Part on Littler's pressure

Darts legend John Part has spoken about the pressure on Luke Littler's shoulders, ahead of his World Darts Championship win.

He told Sky Sports:

I don't think anyone can understand the pressure he's under. Certainly nobody has had to deal with it at his age.

"I'm sure there's so much relief for him. He can control that emotion and if he needs that time to himself after, then that's fine."

Littler reaction

Littler revealed his struggles to overcome his nerves.

It's probably the first time it's hit me.

"I needed [the last set] quite a lot. I don't even want to remember it. No offence to Ryan. I'm going to try and get it out of my head.

"It's been a lot to deal with. When [referee] George Noble said 'game on' I couldn't do it."

Game stats