Sport
Luke Littler hits sensational nine-darter as he wins first European title on his Tour debut in Belgium
Yep, this kid’s gonna go on to win everything, isn’t he?
Danny Jones -
11th March 2024 
Luke Littler is at it again as he rounded off a blockbuster weekend of sport with a star showing of his own, winning not only his second senior title but his first European trophy, and on his debut.
He’s an absolute machine and yes, he’s still only 17.
The teenager played four nights in a row to make it to the final of the Belgian Darts Open title, his first PDC event in Europe, meeting Rob Cross in the last round and going on to beat him 8-7 in a truly thrilling final which featured numerous impressive checkouts — none better so than a superb nine-darter.
Hitting a record number of 180s for the European Tour not only in the match itself but throughout the tournament, notching a whopping 30 maximums all told, he was a crowd-pleaser from the start but the big moments didn’t get any bigger than this:
As you can tell from Cross’ extremely congratulatory response when the final dart goes in, graceful in defeat as always, there was nothing but admiration for this young man’s talent and immense calm no matter how big the stage.
You could see how chuffed the Warrington-born teenager was to meet the expectations of the crowd in the decisive leg too, putting on the kind of show European darts fans will no doubt have been hoping for from him, especially after seeing what he did at the World Championships and the Bahrain Masters.
It wasn’t all so warm and welcoming in Belgium though, as his Littler’s semi-final opponent Ricardo Pietreczko (a.k.a. ‘Pikachu’) had some choice words for him as they went in for a parting handshake, with the German labelling the young darting superstar “arrogant” in a frustrated Instagram post afterwards.
Bemused by the on-stage square-up more than anything, it didn’t seem to bother him too much as he promptly went to fist-pump his 7-3 win in front of the crowd on the night and, thankfully, he had plenty of supporters when it came to the final. Here’s how he sealed the victory:
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Next up for Luke Littler is night seven in the Premier League of Darts over at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena on Thursday, 14 March, where we’re sure he’ll be riding a wave of confidence fresh from his second title since stepping up to the big leagues after what still feels like just five minutes ago.
If you don’t yet believe that Luke ‘The Nuke’ is going to be/is already well on his way to becoming the real deal, we don’t know what to tell you.
Just watch how cool, composed and utterly clinical he is up on the oche this season — his first full one, let us remind you — and maybe you’ll start to believe the hype.
He’s also fast become one of our favourite sporting personalities overall and is clearly embracing that side of things and his obvious popularity. For instance, he’s already starring in cereal adverts – as you do.
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Featured Images — Official PDC (via X/screenshot)
