Luke Littler loses just like the darts superstar
Teenager Luke Littler's sensational darts fairytale comes to a dramatic end in the final: After leading 4:2 and missing out on a preliminary decision, the 16-year-old loses to Luke Humphries. The course of the match is particularly astonishing.
The parallels are almost frightening: the last super talent of an entire generation in darts was Michael van Gerwen. The 34-year-old Dutchman is a three-time world champion, seven-time Premier League winner and has now won more than 150 tournaments in the professional darts organization PDC. However, "MvG" came away empty-handed in his first World Championship final in 2013. A carefree 23-year-old at the time, van Gerwen played his way into the final against Phil Taylor, the most successful player of all time.
With the score at 4:2 in the sets, the young Dutchman was given the opportunity to take a 5:2 lead. A dart for a reassuring lead. A dart that didn't find its target. The rest is history: Taylor took advantage of his opponent's slip-up and won five sets in a row. In the end, it was a 7:4 win for the record world champion - also the last of "The Power's" 16 world titles.
For Luke Littler, the super talent of the next darts generation, things went just as well on Wednesday evening in London's Alexandra Palace. The 16-year-old Englishman was leading 4-2 in a high-class match against the newly crowned world number one Luke Humphries when "The Nuke" ("The Atom Bomb") got the chance to extend his lead.
4 points left. A dart in hand to hit double 2. Littler checks with referee Russ Bray. Is it four points left? "Yes, four points left," answers the legendary caller in the last big match of his career.
Scratching the wire
A few seconds later, the 3,000 spectators in the West Hall of the "Ally Pally" and millions in front of the TV screens see how the arrow moves the wire at the lower end of the eight millimeter narrow double field very delicately inwards. Not in. Littler misses the big chance to make a preliminary decision, visibly annoyed at the narrow miss.
Humphries is relieved, hits double 14 and makes the final exciting again. At this moment, "Cool Hand Luke" is only trailing 3:4 instead of 2:5. After that, the final goes the same way as it did for Taylor against van Gerwen in 2013. Each of the following four sets went to Humphries, who was crowned World Champion for the first time.
"I never thought it would feel so great, it's an amazing feeling," said the 28-year-old Englishman with tears in his eyes and added with a look at his compatriot Littler: "I'm so happy to have won now. He's going to dominate the darts world soon. It was my night, he's an unbelievable talent."
Final is a "massive bonus"
Littler could hardly hide his disappointment, of course, but there was no great frustration after his sensational run to the final on his World Championship debut. In the catacombs, the defeated 16-year-old answered the reporters' questions. This is quite unusual at PDC tournaments, where only the winners have to give interviews. "My only goal was to win a match. The final is a massive bonus for me," was Littler's conclusion.
When asked about the key scene - the minimal missed 5:2 lead - the young Englishman from near Liverpool said that he had "thought about it for some reason" before the throw and had to ask caller Russ Bray. "I stopped my rhythm and couldn't take the chance."
If history repeats itself another time, however, the defeat need not mean anything bad for Littler. On the contrary, Michael van Gerwen won his first World Championship title a year later in the final against Peter Wright. At the age of 24, "MvG" crowned himself the youngest PDC World Champion to date. Littler will be just 17 when he takes part in his second World Championship next year. The huge English talent still has until 2031 to break the Dutch darts superstar's age record.
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Michael van Gerwen, the three-time World Championships darts winner, can relate to Luke Littler's loss. In his first World Championships final in 2013, van Gerwen was leading 4-2 against Phil Taylor but missed a crucial dart, allowing Taylor to win five sets in a row and secure the title.
Despite Michael van Gerwen's early World Championships disappointment, he bounced back the following year to become the youngest PDC World Champion at the age of 24. Luke Littler, who is only 16, will have multiple opportunities to learn from van Gerwen's example and break his age record in future World Championships.
Source: www.ntv.de
