"If he isn’t careful and doesn’t look after himself, he won’t last long" - Peter Manley advises Luke Littler to be careful of weight

Ex-pro Peter Manley has advised Luke Littler to follow Luke Humphries' example and lose weight. 'Cool Hand Luke' had a hefty physique in the early years of his pro career, but lost a lot of weight during the corona period.

Part of Humphries' success is also attributed to tremendous weight loss. According to 'Cool Hand Luke' himself, this allows him to better cope with long days in which players often play in quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of a tournament within a few hours.

Manley, who himself was diagnosed with heart failure during his career and had to make major lifestyle changes as a result, advises Littler to watch his health. "Luke Humphries reminds me so, so much of Luke Littler," Manley told the Daily Star. "When Luke Humphries first came onto the scene, he was so natural, like Adrian Lewis, who you always knew was going to win something."

“I’m a big fella as well and I knew straight away that he’d have to lose some weight. And look at Luke Humphries now, he looks good, he feels fit. I know he had a problem with anxiety and how to deal with pressure, but he’s come through that. Luke Littler, to me, just looks a big unit. If he isn’t careful and doesn’t look after himself, he won’t last long because of that. And it won’t look good. You want to look good."

Manley also points out that the image of the sport of darts has already changed over the years. Today's players already look a lot better conditionally than the icons of the past.

"Darts players used to be the fat people who drunk beer. That’s changing. Look at Gerwyn Price coming from rugby. They’re able to last. They might playing at 10 in the morning and then the final at six at night. They’re long old days and the fitter you are, the more able you are to have the same levels of concentration at the end of the day as you did at the start,'' Manley said.