“It's had a huge impact on young boys and girls” – Beau Greaves raves about the ‘Luke Littler-effect’

Beau Greaves is convinced that Luke Littler has already changed darts for good and inspired a completely new generation. The women’s world number one speaks of the “Littler effect” and says the teenage phenomenon is influencing players of all ages.

The Doncaster star knows what she’s talking about: last year she beat Littler 6-5 in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship. According to Greaves, Littler’s lightning rise has led to a surge of young entrants and clear growth within darts academies.

“It’s had a huge impact on young boys and girls,” said Greaves. “It has affected loads of young lads and young girls.

“With all the academies and people playing, he has been great — he has literally changed things for everyone. It’s great. What more do you want? It was really good and really positive.”

Greaves expects Littler’s impact to translate in the long term into growth for both the men’s and women’s circuits. “Hopefully, as the sport continues to grow and get bigger in both the men’s and ladies’ games, young kids picking up darts can see longevity in the sport and build a career in it.”

This year’s World Darts Championship was played in the West Hall at Alexandra Palace, with a capacity of 3,200 spectators. Due to explosive demand, the tournament will move next year to the Great Hall, where more than 5,000 fans are welcome.

All 170,000 tickets for this Worlds were sold out in the presale. Twenty percent went to overseas fans, with large delegations from Germany and the Netherlands, but also from Ireland and the United States.

The final also broke viewing records. On Sky Sports, the peak audience hit 2.5 million when “The Nuke” successfully defended the Sid Waddell Trophy against Gian van Veen. The ten-time major winner also pocketed a staggering top prize of one million pounds.