"Fist bumps after every set was a bit weird" - Dave Chisnall believes Stephen Bunting showed Luke Littler too much respect during PDC World Darts Championship semi-finals

At the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, Dave Chisnall was sadly unable to bring his best darts to the Ally Pally stage, losing out in a second round thriller to Ricky Evans. Keenly following the rest of the action from home though, 'Chizzy', like many others, was left incredibly impressed by Luke Littler.

The 17-year-old wrote darting history and became the youngest world champion of all time on January 3rd, comfortably dispatching Michael van Gerwen in the final to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy. "Luke Littler continues to take the darting world by storm, and hats off to the kid – it’s an incredible achievement to be World Champion whilst just a teenager. A lot of those who say he’s a prodigy and born talented etc won’t know just how much work has been put in during this 17 years on this planet – I’ve seen the videos of him chucking in his nappies as a toddler!" Chisnall reflects in a column for Kwiff.com.

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Although Littler has only been on the PDC Tour for a year, many of the players have felt first hand the brutality of 'The Nuke' when he detonates. Chisnall himself is no different. "He knocked me out of The UK Open back in March, when I should have been home and hosed at the first break. I went in 3-2 up and he came back and rolled off 5 on the spin before eventually winning the game 10-5," he recalls. "You don’t need me to tell you how good he is, and he’s a phenomenal talent."

Like a few of the other top pros though, Chisnall stresses caution with the 17-year-old, urging those in the media to not to the typical thing of building young sports stars up only to knock them down at the first possible opportunity. "I just hope the media don’t go overboard like they have been – he’s a 17 year old at the end of the day and he doesn’t need all the added stresses and pressure," he warns. "Fingers crossed for him though, he is a special player!"

Littler celebrating with the Sid Waddell Trophy

During Littler's run to the final though, there was a lot of discussion about the behaviour of his opponents, most notably Nathan Aspinall and Stephen Bunting, with some voices in the darting world expressing a belief that the pair showed Littler too much respect, fist-bumping regularly and maintaining a friendly atmosphere throughout.

"The one big disappointment of the semi-finals was my pal Steven Bunting. He was phenomenal in the first set, but will have been gutted to lose it 3-2, despite the high averages. I’m not one for gamesmanship and you won’t hear me slagging folk off, but I did think the fist bumps after every set was a bit weird," Chisnall says on the topic. "It was noticeable that Michael (Van Gerwen) was having none of it in the final!"

Finally, Chisnall shares a thought on Van Gerwen. "He looked to be getting back to his best during the Worlds, which will be a worry for most of us other lads on tour," the Englishman concludes. "He missed too many doubles in the final, but he’ll be back. There aren’t too many folk three-time World Champion in their 30s."

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