The five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld reached the round of 16 of the Darts World Cup on Friday (December 29th, 2023). There he meets Luke Littler, who is only 16 years old.
The 56-year-old Dutchman won his third round match against Welshman Jim Williams 4-1 and is once again reaching for the biggest title in darts, 17 years after his last triumph.
Against Williams, who had previously surprisingly eliminated two-time world champion Peter Wright (Scotland), van Barneveld trembled his way to winning the first set. The 2007 PDC world champion was weak in scoring, but still secured eight legs in a row. Although he briefly gave his opponent hope again after missing five match darts, van Barneveld moved into the round of 16 for the first time in five years with the seventh match dart.
In the “generational duel”, bookmakers see Litter ahead
In the round of 16, van Barneveld will now face the English junior world champion Litter, 40 years his junior, who is causing a sensation in his first participation in the “Ally Pally”. Then van Barneveld will even be an outsider, at least that’s what the bookmakers say.
Littler, 16, has become a crowd favorite at the World Cup. Only three-time champion Michael van Gerwen (Netherlands) and top favorite Luke Humphries (England) are traded higher by bookmakers.
Clayton meets former world champion Cross
Before the van Barneveld duel, Jonny Clayton (Wales) and Damon Heta (Australia) had already secured their places in the round of 16. Clayton defeated Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski 4-2 and will now face English former world champion Rob Cross in the round of 16.
After his 4:3 win over Berry van Peer (Netherlands), Heta has the best chance of making it to the quarter-finals. On Saturday he will play against unseeded Englishman Scott Williams.
In the evening, Scottish former world champion Gary Anderson made it to the round of 16. Anderson lived up to his role as favorite in the confident 4-1 win over Croatian Boris Krcmar.