FORMER BBC presenter Des Lynam claims Luke Littler was “bred for the job” amid his incredible sporting rise.
Littler burst onto the scene at the 2023-24 Word Darts Championship aged just 16 and made it to the final on his first attempt.
PALuke Littler will compete in the World Darts Championship semi-final tonight[/caption]
GettyFormer Match of the Day presenter Des Lynam claims Littler was ‘bred for the job’[/caption]
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Despite losing out to Luke Humphries on the Ally Pally stage, he earned a spot in the Premier League Darts line-up alongside some of Europe’s top stars.
And at the end of his debut campaign, he got revenge on Humphries to win the title.
Littler also won several other accolades in 2024 – including the World Series of Darts.
He ended the year by winning the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year award.
But the 17-year-old is now eyeing the biggest prize in darts – the World Championship title.
Littler faces Stephen Bunting tonight in the semi-finals.
The Nuke has remained the favourite throughout the competition.
And former Match of the Day host Lynam has praised him for his incredible influence on the sport.
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In a column for The Telegraph, he wrote: “Darts has now become a masterpiece of sports TV, benefiting from some excellent players from around the world and, in particular, the superstardom of Luke Littler, recently voted second in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year.
“He had a tricky passage against Ryan Joyce to reach Wednesday’s quarter-finals.”
He added: “If Littler does win the title, he will earn £500,000.
“He was bred for the job; his parents introduced him to the game when he was just a toddler but it has become clear that the competition is getting tougher.”
Should he beat Bunting tonight, Littler will face either Chris Dobey or Michael van Gerwen in Friday’s final.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
1994 – Dennis Priestley
1995 – Phil Taylor
1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
2003 – John Part
2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
2008 – John Part (2)
2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 – Rob Cross
2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 – Peter Wright
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Peter Wright (2)
2023 – Michael Smith
2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries
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