"He's better than last year" says Luke Littler's childhood darts coach ahead of PDC World Darts Championship title tilt

Residents of the English town of Warrington will be holding their breath Friday night when their village colleague Luke Littler will be in action against Michael van Gerwen in the final of the World Darts Championship.

It is Littler's second time in the World Cup finals. He also managed to do so last year, but then 'The Nuke' lost to Luke Humphries in the final match. Littler's former coach Karl Holden would consider it "a dream come true" if his old pupil takes the world title.

Littler entered St Helens Darts Academy, which Holden owns, as a nine-year-old boy. Holden said it was a dream to see Littler "progress every year." He told BBC Radio Manchester that Littler was "really looking forward" to taking on van Gerwen later, but said he thought the young star was up to the challenge.

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"Hopefully he can go that one better this year because I do believe he is better than last year," Mr Holden said.

"Everybody can't wait for it because I think them two are the two best players of this tournament.

"Every dart player has a dream to be world champion but I think I'm well past that stage now so I think for our committee, [at St Helens Darts Academy] it's a dream for us to produce a world champion, I don't think there can be a better feeling than that."

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