His first World Championship, on the Ally Pally stage, at age 16, and he reached the final. 🤩 Luke Littler - what an incredible journey it's been. 👏 #BBCDarts #WCDarts
"I think Luke Littler has opened doors to a new audience" - PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter hopes sport's newest superstar can inspire next generation of players
PDCFriday, 05 January 2024 at 17:00
Luke Littler exploded into the hearts and minds of the wider sporting world during the recent PDC World Darts Championship, going all the way to the final before being defeated by Luke Humphries 7-4 in a thriller.
The fairy-tale story of the 16-year-old's run to the final at the Alexandra Palace, brought attention to darts like never before, setting record-breaking viewing figures on Sky Sports. Speaking to a special, BBC Sport podcast on the teen sensation, PDC Chief Executive, Matt Porter gave his opinion on just how impactful Littler has already been on the sport of darts.
"We had a similar kind of incident about four years ago with Fallon Sherrock, who became the first female player to win on stage at the World Darts Championships," Porter tells 'Luke Littler: The Boy who Changed Darts'. "Her results brought worldwide media attention and flung her into the spotlight but she unfortunately had the breaks put on by covid just a few weeks later which was a real shame."
"The fact that Luke has been able to do this over the whole of the tournament, over two and a half weeks has enabled his story to grow to a new level," Porter continues. "Whenever someone does anything in any sporting environment that hasn't been done before, it's going to generate that kind of interest. Luke has been able to capitalise on that and be thrust into the limelight."
Littler has since been announced as one of the eight players to get the nod for the 2024 Premier League Darts lineup. Aside from his undoubted talent on the board, his captivation of the world's media was also a key reason for this selection. "I think Luke has opened doors to a new audience," Porter explains.
"The profile of darts, the demographic of darts has been changing over the last couple of decades anyway as it's left its old image behind and moved into where it is now as a sport. But what Luke's done is show teenagers that it's a career opportunity and something they can do themselves because Luke is just a normal kid. He's from a good family background but he's not from any special level of privilege or resource or anything like that. What he's achieved has been through natural talent and dedication."
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