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"Stood in my nappy celebrating like Barney" - Luke Littler eyeing up potential fourth round tie with his idol Van Barneveld
PDCWednesday, 27 December 2023 at 10:00
Luke Littler has emerged as a real sensation in the first week of the World Darts Championship. The 16-year-old Englishman may meet Raymond van Barneveld in a possible fourth round match.
Littler and Van Barneveld need to win one more match each to do so, against Matt Campbell and Jim Williams, respectively. Littler is even already being credited with chances of becoming the youngest ever world champion; for now, that honour still belongs to Michael van Gerwen, who became world champion for the first time in 2014 at 24. "People even say I'm better than 'MvG'. Whether I'm really better? I can't agree or disagree with that yet, because I know what he did at his age and I know what I did at my age. But it's nice that people compare me to my idols," Littler said to AD.nl.
'The Nuke' was born on Jan. 21, 2007, barely 20 days after Raymond van Barneveld's last world title in 2007. "But I used to imitate him all the time. Stood in my nappy celebrating like Barney," he laughs.
Van Barneveld himself is also looking forward to a duel with Littler. "I understand that's a perfect match for everyone. If I could draw now, I would do it right away. If you do this even on this stage, you command respect. Boris Becker once shocked the whole tennis world at seventeen, why can't this guy go completely crazy in the darts world? I think it would be great to play against him: almost the oldest player in the World Championship against the youngest. Bizarre to think he wasn't born at my last world title."
'You've got school in the morning, you've got school in the morning', sang the crowd at Alexandra Palace during Littler's matches. "Darts school maybe," he laughed. "Great that everyone is singing to me like that ánd with so many different songs."
Littler also received congratulations from darts legend Phil Taylor. "Unbelievable, bizarre how much everyone is on my side," Littler said. "I went from 4,000 to 11,000 followers on Instagram on Wednesday. Now I already have 22,000 followers. A lot of darters started following me and on my mobile there were as many as 500 notifications."
''I hear there's a lot of betting on me as an upcoming world champion, but I just always look at who's on the stage and I want to beat them. After Christmas that will be Matt Campbell. Can I win the World Championship? If I average 106 every match, I have a good chance."
His regular ritual for celebrating a win certainly won't change Littler anytime soon. "Kebab, bottles of Coke, bottles of Fanta and some vapes (electric cigarette, ed.)."
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