Luke Littler wants to ‘create more history in 2024’ after a very successful end to last year.
The Warrington-born youngster had a great evening at the 2023 PDC Annual Awards this week, being nominated for four awards.
Nicknamed ‘The Nuke’ and training out of St Helens Darts Academy, Littler won two categories.
He won the Toyo Tires Televised Performance of the Year after his World Championship semi-final performance, which he won 6-2 against Rob Cross, as well as winning the Winmau Young Player of the Year.
Littler told the PDC he was delighted with the awards.
He said: “I’m really grateful to win these awards, and I’m glad my performances have earned me these trophies.
“The World Championship was a great tournament all round for me, but the game against Rob was my best performance.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but hopefully I can let my darts do the talking and create more history in 2024.”
With the 2024 MGM Premier League under way, the opening night saw Littler reach the semi finals after beating Luke Humphries 6-2 in the quarter finals in their first meeting since their record breaking World Championship Final.
But he lost 6-5 to last year’s world champion Michael Smith who is also from St Helens.
Unfortunately for The Nuke it seemed Smith was better on the night as his opponent managed six 180s and a 105 average.
The game ended on a last leg shootout but Littler still has a lot of work to do to reach the top.
His success has come as no shock to Mersey Sport Live as we spoke to him at the end of November in 2023. To see the story click here.
Littler’s next challenge comes in the form of Gerwyn Price in week two of the Premier League in Berlin.
After meeting in the Bahrain Darts Masters and the Dutch Darts Masters Final, the 17-year -old came out victorious on both occasions, meaning Price will try and get a win against the youngster under his belt.
Speaking on Sky Sports Love The Darts Podcast he said: “He’s a good youngster, he’s down to earth, and I think at this moment in time it’s probably what darts needed.
“It’s a little kick up the backside and will get more people a little more interested and motivated to watch – I think it’s fantastic.”
