Luke Littler on Friday became the youngest world champion in darts history when the 17-year-old Englishman lived up to his billing as Britain’s latest sporting superstar.
Littler beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the final at a boisterous Alexandra Palace in London.
“Everyone dreams of lifting this trophy,” said Littler, who also took the winner’s check of ￡500,000 (US$620,000). “I can’t believe it.”
Photo: AP
It completes the remarkable rise of Littler, a prodigy from Warrington in northwest England who first threw a dart as an 18-month-old, was junior world champion in 2023 and reached the world final last year — at age 16 — before losing to top-ranked Luke Humphries.
That catapulted him to stardom, making him famous far beyond darts while lifting the sport into the mainstream like in its heyday in the 1980s.
Littler handled the huge pressure and expectation on him to return to the final 12 months later and powered 4-0 up in sets against Van Gerwen, a darts phenom himself as a youngster and with world titles in 2014, 2017 and 2019.
Photo: AP
The Dutchman made it 4-1, 5-2 and 6-3, but Littler could not be stopped and he was reduced to tears after he made the winning double.
“Wow, wow, wow,” he could be seen saying.
“At 2-0 up, I started getting nervous, but I said to myself: ‘Relax,’” Littler said later. “To get it over and done with is special.”
Van Gerwen was previously the youngest world champion in the elite Professional Darts Corporation competition, winning the 2014 final at age 24. Jelle Klaasen won the now-defunct British Darts Organisation world title in 2006 at age 21.
Van Gerwen said that losing his record “hurt,” but was full of praise for Littler.
“Every 17 years a star gets born, and he is one of them,” Van Gerwen said.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS