The world of professional darts has a new celebrity: 16-year-old English darts player Luke Littler, who has made it to the World Darts Championship finals and is gaining a lot of attention. On Tuesday, Littler extended his incredible journey by defeating 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the semifinals.
After defeating Kirk Shepard, who was 21 years and 88 days old when he reached the finals in 2008, Littler became the youngest World Championship finalist in the tournament’s history. The youngest winner is Michael van Gerwen, who took home the title in 2014 at the age of 24. On Wednesday, Littler will face new world No. 1 Luke Humphries, who defeated Scott Williams 6-0.
Littler had only played four senior matches at PDC Premier events before making his World Championship debut; he was also ranked 164 (tied with another player) going into the tournament. Despite his high level of success, Littler is a fairly normal teenager, telling reporters last week after defeating his idol, the legendary darts player Raymond van Barneveld, that “[I] just wake up, play on my Xbox, have some food and have a chuck on the board, go to bed, and that is it.”
Littler, who turns 17 on January 21, has already defeated several well-known players in the tournament, including van Barneveld and Cross. He has already earned £200,000 for his accomplishments and will receive £500,000 if he wins it all. But before then, he has the opportunity to create even more history and further ignite the darts world.
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