Luke Littler's 'cocky' reaction suddenly changed as he celebrated winning World Darts title
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Luke Littler is the king of the darts world. The teenage phenomenon became the sport's youngest-ever world champion with his remarkable final victory over Michael van Gerwen. The Dutchman, a record-breaking champion in his own right and the best player in the world over the last decade, simply had no answer to 'The Nuke'.
Twelve months on from his heartbreaking final loss to Luke Humphries - where he led 4-2 only to succumb to a 7-4 defeat - Littler lifted the Sid Waddell Trophy for the first time after dominating MVG in the first half of their heavyweight tussle, rattling into a 4-0 lead, before standing firm to claim a 7-3 triumph. His 102.73 average, 12 180s and stunning 56 per cent checkout rate on the doubles were too much for the three-time champion to keep pace with.
Throughout, Van Gerwen looked shocked, unable to comprehend what was happening. Had he been caught unaware? Did he not think Littler was this good? His face, whenever he merely clung on to hold his throw in those later sets, told its own story. “Of course it hurts, and I’m an old b***ard compared to him, but I didn’t do myself justice," said Van Gerwen.
But, in fairness to the Dutchman, it wasn't that he played badly. Littler was just sensational in getting ahead, took advantage of seemingly every little mistake, and never looked back when he'd taken a stranglehold on the match. After very friendly matches with Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting in the last eight and final four - lots of hand slaps, fist bumps and smiles - there were questions whether MVG would be able to bully Littler on Ally Pally's big night. Instead he asserted HIS superiority.
