Tag: Darts

Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler hits 9-darter, wins Bahrain Darts Masters

Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler, who broke out in the PDC World Darts Championship, became the youngest player to hit a televised nine-darter.

Think of the most electric thing you’ve experienced at a sporting event. A 90th-minute goal? Successful Hail Mary? Walk-off home run?

Wrong. It’s a nine-darter. You don’t need to know a thing about darts, the tournament being played, or the players involved to feel the pulse of the crowd grow and grow as every subsequent dart hits the mark for a perfect 501.

Luke “The Nuke” Littler, who made waves around the New Year as the 16-year-old-who-looks-like-your-34-year-old-colleague became the youngest player to reach the championship round of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) World Darts Championship, is back at it again. On Friday, he recorded a perfect leg of 180, 180 and 141 in the quarterfinals as he became the youngest player to hit a televised nine-darter, according to SkySports.

Littler went on to win the Bahrain Masters, taking down Michael van Gerwen in the championship round. It is his first senior PDC title, according to SkySports.

This was also, Littler said, the first time he threw darts since he fell in the championship round of the World Darts Championship. No practice in more than two weeks leading straight into a nine-darter and PDC championship is just the type of psycho behavior we’ve come to expect and love from The Nuke.

He made 180 look easy in the quarterfinals, but even the pros know mere millimeters changes the outlook. See his championship-winning leg:

16-year-old darts prodigy Luke Littler casually hit a perfect 9-darter at the Bahrain Masters

WOW.

Darts prodigy Luke Littler can do it all.

And he’s only 16 years old!

The British native was born in 2007 … and is now one incredibly good darts player, winning tournaments everywhere in recent years and taking the sport by storm with his first seniors title in 2022. Now, he’s at the Bahrain Darts Masters 2024, and he became the youngest player ever to hit a nine-darter (that’s a perfect round) at a televised tournament.

Check this out and prepare to be wowed by it. You also have to love his fist-pumping reaction — of course he’s got to celebrate that like a champ in that record-breaking moment:

16-year-old darts star Luke Littler’s mother released his birth certificate to prove his age

Second-place PDC World Darts Championship finisher Luke Littler certainly doesn’t look 16, so his mom released his birth certificate to prove he was born in 2007.

Luke Littler took the sports world by storm this week as he advanced his way to the PDC World Darts Championship final. Everyone loves an underdog story; this one involved a 16-year-old competing against and beating some of the greatest dart players in the world in the most prestigious darts competition before falling to No. 1-ranked Luke Humphries.

Monikered Luke “the Nuke,” Littler became the youngest player to ever win a match at the tournament, according to ESPN. He led Humphries 4-2, but the top-ranked player won five straight sets to get the title.

Littler has been increasingly recognized when he ventures outside, with fans stopping him at the Arsenal game and Tottenham Spurs player James Maddison posing for a picture and bringing a sign to the championship.

But beyond that, the real reason Littler has grabbed the attention of so many is that, for a 16-year-old, he arguably does not look 16.

In this photo, taken five years ago, he was 11:

People on social media were making jokes about how old he looks, which he says have been “going on for years,” and he now “laughs off” the jokes, according to Daily Mail. But it went so far that his mother released a picture of his birth certificate to prove once and for all that this teenager was, in fact, born in the year 2007.

Read more about Littler’s magical run at ESPN and the Guardian.

A near-perfect leg of darts at the 2023 World Darts Championship had Twitter going bonkers

This is the greatest leg of darts EVER.

If you didn’t think a sport like darts could be exciting, think again!

On Tuesday, the 2023 PDC World Darts Championship held its final between England’s Michael Smith and Netherlands’ Michael van Gerwen, a rematch of the championship match from 2019. Van Gerwen held a 1-0 set lead — needing to win seven to win the championship — when something extraordinary happened in the third leg of the second set.

If you aren’t aware of how professional darts work, both players start at 501 with the goal to hit zero before your opponent. The fewest number of darts to hit 501 is nine and both van Gerwen and Smith were on pace to score a nine-darter in this leg.

While van Gerwen missed on his ninth dart — the DRAMA! — Smith’s aim was true as he made just the second nine-darter in a World Championship final! 

While I don’t understand the full intricacies of darts, I love everything about this. The disbelief from the announcers, the wild reaction of the fans, and even the camera cuts made for some incredible drama. This, my friends, is what sports is about!

Twitter, especially, had a field day with the near-perfect leg of darts and the skill on display from both Smith and van Gerwen for putting on performances of a lifetime.

Scottish darts star enters match dressed like the Grinch, complete with green hair and beard

Peter Wright is amazing.

I am today years old when I learned that Scottish darts star Peter Wright loves to make a fun scene for his entrances to matches.

He usually sports a spiky hairstyle with all kinds of colors dyed into it — green, purple, rainbow whatever! — and has walked out to Pitbull while doing a delightful dance, sometimes with cheerleaders. He has snakes stenciled into his head because his nickname is “Snakebite.”

In other words, he just became my favorite darts star. How can you not want to root for that?

This week, he walked on to the 2021 World Darts Championship as the Grinch, with his hair dyed and an all-green getup with what can only be described as furry Grinch hands. Seriously. This is AWESOME.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh_V6Y0F1jg

Here are some other Wright entrances and hairstyles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TVoWUDpUSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DM0ZK6aueM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHj7DbEECX0

I love it. Where can I buy a Peter Wright jersey??? And darts provides some of the best highlights, doesn’t it?

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This video of a darts crowd going nuts after a historic win in London is too good

What an awesome reaction from this crowd in London.

Did I wake up today and think I’d end up writing about darts? No, no I didn’t.

To be completely honest, my background with darts consists mostly of attempting to play while having some drinks with friends at various dive bars over the years.

I do know the sport is big overseas, as every now and then viral moments pop up online.

Well, on Tuesday at the PDC World Championship in London history was made as Fallon Sherrock (what a tremendous name) became the first woman to beat a man at the big event and the huge crowd absolutely loved it.

I didn’t know I had to put “going to a dart championship even in London” on my bucket list until I saw how awesome this crowd was right when Sherrock locked up her win:

I’ve watched that a number of times already. I mean, how much fun does that look like?

Sherrock was overjoyed with her historic victory, telling The Guardian:

“I’m speechless, I don’t know what to say,” an emotional Sherrock said on stage afterwards. “I feel really happy because I have proven something for women’s darts, that women can play the men and beat them, so fingers crossed this is a move in the right direction. I’m over the moon, I can’t believe it!”

Heck yeah, Fallon Sherrock. Well done.