Luke lets you fly
For Luke Littler, Berlin is just one of many stops on his exciting tour through the darts world. For the fans in the capital, however, the 17-year-old Englishman is the main attraction. When the arrows fly in the Premier League on February 8th in the Arena at Ostbahnhof, stars such as the Dutchman Michael van Gerwen, the Scotsman Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price from Wales will be there, as will world champion Luke Humphries, but their eyes will be on the spot Fully on Littler, who has been shaking up the balance of power in the darts scene since the start of the World Cup in mid-December. A sensational World Cup final in Ally Pally, then a title and a nine-darter in Bahrain and another World Series final in Den Bosch are already under his belt. Littler is now at the top of his game in his younger years. Now his first big appearance in Germany awaits him.
The 16-time world champion Phil Taylor believes that the super talent can do anything in the Premier League’s million-dollar business – including the title. »Of course he is capable of it, but it will be hard. “He’s part of the elite now,” said Taylor, who advises Littler dpa.
In Berlin the quarter-finals will first be against former world champion Rob Cross. Sounds like a difficult task, but Littler clearly defeated his compatriot 6-2 in the World Cup semi-finals in London. A few days earlier he had thrown his former idol Raymond van Barneveld out of the most important tournament of the year.
For the world association PDC, the young man, who was throwing darts while still in diapers, is a stroke of luck in many ways. The association’s leadership around managing director Matthew Porter sees Littler as an excellent ambassador and is happy to take him to Bahrain or the USA for World Series events, where the games will be played in New York at the end of May. The next stops in the summer would be Australia and New Zealand.
The youngster also attracts a large audience, as shown by the viewing figures for the World Cup final on January 3rd. Sky Sports reported that Littler v Humphries was the most watched non-football broadcast. Littler already has more followers on Instagram than van Gerwen, Wright or Price.
Littler himself seems very mature and reflective for his age. The 17-year-old commented on his journey over the past few weeks that he had “not had a bad start to the year.” When asked whether there had ever been a greater talent than Littler, record world champion Taylor replied: »There are many players with a lot of talent. It just depends on how you deal with pressure. There’s a saying: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Within a very short time, Littler has earned a lot of respect from his opponents. “You don’t treat him like a little boy. They see him as a danger. He is a real player. The other players know and respect that,” said former world-class professional Glen Durrant.
For Littler, the Premier League with 16 match days involves a lot of travel stress. But he has time. After finishing school last summer, his attention has turned to darts.
