Luke Littler, a 16-year-old darts player, has shocked the world by making it to the finals of the PDC World Darts Championship. The unexpected success has earned Littler £200,000 and has already set a Sky tournament viewing record with a peak audience of 2.32m. It is now anticipated that the final will be the most-watched in 31 years of the tournament’s history. The current record for a darts final is the 8.3m who tuned in to watch Keith Deller win the 1983 title against Eric Bristow in the BBC’s BDO World Championship.
Entering the tournament ranked 164th in the world, Littler’s meteoric rise has seen him defeat former world champions and become the youngest person to reach the title decider. Marketing experts have suggested that if Littler emerges victorious, achieving success that seemed unthinkable at the start of his opening match, he could pocket a cool £500,000 and receive huge earnings from potential sponsorship deals.
However, regardless of the result, Littler stated that his life will never be the same after this extraordinary fortnight. Littler’s confidence and fearlessness have led him to defy the odds. With only four senior matches at PDC premier events prior to the tournament, he has averaged more than 100 in four of his matches. Overtaking Kirk Shepherd as the youngest World Championship finalist, Littler has overcome four top-30 ranked players along the way, including his childhood idol and five-time champion Raymond van Barneveld.
Standing in Littler’s way of a historic success is Luke Humphries, who is also through to his first final and now the world number one after an impressive 6-0 semi-final win over Scott Williams. Humphries has won the last three PDC TV tournaments and has been hailed for his talent and potential to be a party spoiler
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