Child prodigy Luke Littler has really shaken up the industry since the Darts World Cup. Not everyone likes that. Superstar Michael van Gerwen was already starting to tease.
The darts world has known Luke Littler since December. The professional, who turned 17 in January, made it to the final of the World Cup and was defeated by Luke Humphries 4:7. Littler’s rise is already making the competition uneasy.
Superstar Michael van Gerwen said in an interview before the start of the Premier League: “He is no longer a youth player. Those days are over. Of course he is still a child, but now you have to fight against each other on stage and there can be no mercy .”
“The way darts works now”
Littler triumphed in his first World Series tournament in Bahrain at the beginning of the year, throwing a nine-darter. The audience cheered him on frenetically both at the World Cup and recently. According to Michael van Gerwen, it won’t stay that way.
He teases about the future: “If he looks at his watch during the game and says, ‘How can I miss again?’, they’ll be booing you in five years. That’s the way darts are now functions.”
“Mighty Mike” as the Dutchman van Gerwen is also known, told Littler: “He’s had a fabulous last two months, but it’s only two months, yes? He has to do it for a very long time.”
However, Van Gerwen also emphasized that Littler was “of course a special talent”. Littler himself doesn’t doubt himself: “I know what’s coming, I know that I can handle everything myself.” He wants to compete with the “best of the best”.