Luke Littler has taken darts "from a sport to mainstream" according to British sports promoter Barry Hearn but he "won't monopolise" the game; Darts is back on Sky Sports with the World Grand Prix at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester from October 7-13
Thursday 15 August 2024 19:11, UK
Promoter Barry Hearn says Luke Littler has taken darts "from a sport to mainstream" but the teen sensation "won't monopolise" the game like Phil Taylor did.
Littler rose to fame by embarking on a remarkable run to the final of the PDC World Darts Championship earlier this year.
Entering the tournament ranked outside the top 100, the junior and world youth champion defeated Brendan Dolan, Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross on his way to the Alexandra Palace final before an agonising defeat to Luke Humphries.
Littler, nicknamed 'The Nuke', has gone on to win World Series titles in Bahrain and Poland as well as European Tour events in Austria and Belgium.
And after being picked as a wild card for this season's Premier League, the 17-year-old answered his critics by winning the title in his debut campaign - and the £275k top prize.
"There was some feeling within the Professional Darts Corporation 'Is this a bit too early to put a youngster under that type of pressure?' There were going to be 10,000 fans minimum every Thursday night for 17 nights - 'Can he cope?' 'Will it affect his long-term future?' blah, blah, blah," Hearn, who is the president of Matchroom Sport, told Sky Sports.
"Eddie and I sat down to discuss it and the first thing Eddie said was 'It doesn't matter what age you are, if you're good enough you're old enough' and our job is to give people a chance and roll the dice and my word, didn't that pay off in spades!?
"The kid is a lovely boy. He's a talent that's going to be around for a long time. He's not going to win every match because the standard of competition within darts is so enormous, so many great players, which is why it makes it such a superb sporting spectacle."
Hearn seems convinced Littler has taken darts into the mainstream with the teen sensation proving an inspiration for many aspiring youngsters.
He said: "This young man has got his feet on the ground. He's got the right attitude and behind Luke Littler are dozens of other Luke Littlers coming from all over the world and that's the excitement.
"This game of darts hasn't really started. Everyone thinks it's massive and it is but there's a long, long way to go.
"Littler took us from a sport to mainstream. All of a sudden kids were watching, nans and grandads, parents were watching. It became what we always look for in sport - a narrative. It's about the personality and the stories behind the personality, getting people involved so they can enjoy the sport from several different angles."
Littler may have already joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list, but what does his future in the game of darts hold? Hearn doesn't think the Warrington ace can catch Phil Taylor's haul of 16 world titles.
"Phil Taylor's title run is probably untouchable," admitted Hearn. "The man was an absolute legend but the competition wasn't as good then as it is now. Because these darts players are earning millions of pounds a year, have got a huge future, it's attracted an awful lot of talent from a much wider range of people who want to try darts.
"It's not a difficult game to understand, it's a very difficult game to master but we have the strength to factor in that we're using ordinary people but they have extraordinary ability, so I think Luke Littler can be a multiple winner. He won't monopolise but he will have periods of domination."
The 2024 BoyleSports World Grand Prix is next on the Sky Sports darting calendar.
The annual £600,000 tournament will take place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester from October 7-13, as 32 of the world's top stars compete for the coveted title which was won by Luke Humphries.
Humphries celebrated his maiden TV ranking title with victory over Gerwyn Price in last year's tournament, and the world No 1 will return to defend his title later this year.
Six-time champion Michael van Gerwen is also set to star, with teenage superstar Luke Littler poised to make his double-start debut in the East Midlands.
In a change to last year's format, Saturday's semi-finals on October 12 will be contested over the best of nine sets, with the final set to be played over the best of 11 sets on Sunday, October 13.
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