On Wednesday, 16-year-old Luke Littler can become the sport’s youngest ever world champion.
From the ongoing world darts championships in London, one name in particular will remain in the history books, and that is who is 16 years old Luke Littler.
Littler, born in 2007, knocked out the 2018 world champion in the World Cup semi-final last night by Rob Cross. Littler advanced to the finals with a score of 6–2. The 16-year-old’s throwing hand was hot again, when he had a total of 16 180 throws. Cross, ranked eighth in the world list, got 10 180 throws. Littler averaged 106.05 in the match.
After the match, 33-year-old Cross showed his appreciation for the young player by raising his hand in victory.
At the same time, the British Littler became the youngest player of all time to advance to the World Cup final of the sport.
Great talent was confident in himself even before yesterday’s semi-final match.
– I can be in the final. I know I have a good chance.
The teenage gambler entered the tournament as a clear contender. Before the World Cup, Littler was ranked 164th in the world.
In the previous matches of the Games, the audience has humorously shouted at Littler “you’ve got school in the morning”, meaning “you’ve got school in the morning” playfully in connection with Littler’s young age.
Littler knocked down several top players in the world on the way to the deciding games. He had lost no more than one set in his previous matches before the semifinals. Kovi’s victory came from the multiple World Cup winner of the sport, of Raymond van Barneveld. In the semifinals, he defeated the 50-year-old By Brendan Dolan 5 to 1 reading.
Littler will face Finland time in the final starting at 22:15 Luke Humphries28. Humphries, ranked third in the world, fell in his own semifinal by Scott Williams I won the set 6–0. Humphries collected 14 180 throws in the match, while Williams threw six of them.
Littler’s final resistance Humphries knowsthat Littler is a tough opponent despite his age.
– I have said in many interviews that you can be number one in the world rankings for a couple of months, but as a world champion you are forever. I have a really tough task against Luke (Littler).
The reigning world champion is Michael Smith, who fell in this year’s games at the quarter-final stage. He knocked out the previous year in the final Michael van Gerwen.
The World Cup is traditionally played in London at Alexandra Palace, or more familiarly at Ally Pally. The winner of the final will earn themselves half a million pounds and the loser will earn £200,000.