2024-01-04 08:43:45
Luke Littler was one step away from completing a fairy talethe story of a 16-year-old boy who almost became champion in the Darts World Cup, an event that has been experienced with great passion in the United Kingdom. The previous youngest player to win the trophy was 24 years old. Littler almost achieved it with 16. He was frustrated by the new number one in the ranking, Luke Humphries, in an exciting final, held in a London pavilion surrendered to the boy with the face of an adult. Littler, despite the final defeat, has become a sensation that transcends his discipline.
The English teenager, nicknamed The Nuke, the nuclear missile, had previously eliminated several English and world champions. It seemed like a feat for him to overcome the first round. And, instead, he went through rounds with veteran precision and poise. He stood up to Humphries in the final, but ‘Cool hand’, as the winner of the contest is nicknamed, was full of energy and in the decisive moments he found the exact target.
Quite a phenomenon
In any case, no one doubts that Littler will one day end up lifting the trophy that eluded him yesterday. Many see him as the heir to the legendary Phil Taylor, the best player in history in a cult discipline that goes beyond the pubs in England. “I told myself I better win today, because this guy is going to win a lot of world championships in the future,” Humphries said after the final.
The Littler phenomenon has burst onto the English entertainment scene with force. There was no detail about his life that was considered minor. You had to know everything about him. The tabloids have dug in and the public has consumed the account of his furious rise. He has earned attention worthy of a Premier goalscorer and his games, broadcast on Sky Sports, have attracted audiences never seen before in the history of the championship.
16 year old Luke Littler in tears after narrowly losing in the World Championship Final…????pic.twitter.com/22MYmfeSV2
— george (@StokeyyG2) January 3, 2024
As amazement at his marksmanship and competitiveness grew, so did doubts on social networks about his age, given his appearance, more of a man than a teenager. The noise reached such an extreme that a British media outlet published his birth certificate before the final, stating that he was born in 2007 and that, indeed, he is a precocious prodigy.
Related news
He picked up his first dart at 18 months (there is a video showing this) and refined his technique during the pandemic period. Locked in his house at just 13 years old, he threw endless darts that polished and perfected his game. Now he has pocketed 200,000 pounds (about 250,000 euros) for being a finalist, the largest purse of his budding career (Humphries, magnificent, has taken 500,000, in euros, more than 630,000), but above all he has been fascinated by everything a country.
“It’s been unbelievable!” ????
What a journey it’s been ‘walking in a Luke Littler Wonderland’ ???? pic.twitter.com/87XvxRFI8n
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) January 3, 2024
You had to see and hear how they received it before starting the final. And how they fired him. A total new idol. “It has been incredible. Now I have reached the top-32 in the ranking and I have been a finalist in my debut. Incredible,” the boy managed to say, who shed a few tears, after consummating a defeat that sold dearly.
#frustrated #dream #prodigious #Luke #Littler #Darts #World #Cup