The current world No4 is a stablemate of Littler’s, with the pair sharing the same management, but their first encounter came half a decade ago when Aspinall was progressing up the PDC Order of Merit, and Littler had just started secondary school. Littler catapulted the popularity of darts during his incredible World Darts Championship appearance last year aged just 16, reaching the final where he was beaten by World No1 Luke Humphries. ‘The Nuke’ has become a household name in the sporting world, but his ability to go toe-to-toe with the world’s best has been there for years. The darts sensation was only 16 when he wowed Alexandra Palace at the World Darts Championship (WDC), despite a final loss to Luke Humphries.
The Nuke will continue playing against seven of the best dart players in the world — Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross and Peter Wright — in a mini-tournament in a different city every Thursday until the final in May. “I think he was aged four! No, he was around 12 and wow, I just thought ‘who is the kid?’. “I remember seeing his dad with him and he was dead critical of him because he’d lost.
I was thinking mate, he’s 12, and I was in the top 16 in the world at that time and I said ‘give him a break’. His dad said ‘no, he needs to learn’ and that hard talk over the years has probably produced one of the best players in our sport. He’s amazing and what else can you say?”
*Who do you think will win Night 12 of the Premier League in Rotterdam? The 17-year-old had won the two prior nights in Belfast and Manchester, where he beat Aspinall 6-4 in Northern Ireland.
“We’re all [darts players] sick of seeing his face on social media and that’s a credit to him,” Aspinall continued. “It’s not just the media who are obsessed with him, he’s bringing them to him. In summary, the text discusses the rising star in the world of darts, Littler, and his impressive performances at a young age. It also touches on the opinions of other players in the darts community regarding Littler’s success.
