MWhile Europe satisfies its scarce sporting desires On January 1st with ski jumping, in England the televisions turn on to watch the quarterfinals of the World Darts Championship, especially for the figure of a 16-year-old young man, Luke Littler, who from 3 p.m. faces for a place in the semifinals of the tournament
The challenge is unbalanced. From 164th place in the world he has to eliminate Brendan Dolan, another Englishman who has just defeated a former world champion like Gary Anderson. And yet, such is the boy’s appeal that the staff is convinced that he can advance to the next round and reach Tuesday’s semifinals.
His goal is to become the youngest champion in the history of an event that this year celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. Littler, a boy who celebrates every victory with fast food, has broken all the canons of a sport where the golden era extends beyond 30 years.
Son of a taxi driver and a shop assistant, he left football at the age of 10, where he played. as central to working hard in the other specialty he mastered: the target. In football, the only thing left is the similarity with the precocity at which he has reached the elite, which has earned him the nickname of the ‘Messi of darts’.
Littler enters the London pavilion to play one of the rounds of the World Cup
At that age he was already an outstanding player. In his Cheshire County team he was placed in the under 21 team, even though he was 10 years younger and, at 13, according to his coaches, they couldn’t teach him anymore. He will now face a guy who could be his father: Dolan is 50 years old. He doesn’t intimidate you. He has even become an idol for mega-famous footballers like Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale, who asked him for a photo for their social networks when they saw him at the hotel where Arsenal were concentrated. Littler returned the honors with a visit to the Emirates, where he signed a handful of autographs.
The Christmas story has arrived until January 1. The final prize exceeds 550,000 euros for the winner. On his way to that round he has killed two world champions, the Dutch Christian Kist, winner of the 2012 BDO, and Raymond van Barneveld, this one from the PDC, the World Championship.
While listening to jokes about his age, like how he has to go back to school tomorrow -he has left it to focus on the game- and with a youth record that does not fit on a hard drive, Littler continues eating kebabs and breaking all the molds, while amphitheaters of more than 2,000 people loaded with pints cheer each of the actions of the right handed.
