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‘You’ve got school in the morning’ – five Littler things

Sixteen-year-old Luke Littler marked his PDC World Championship debut with a 3-0 victory against experienced Dutchman Christian Kist at Alexandra Palace.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at five things you may not know about dart’s teenage sensation ‘The Nuke’, who turns 17 next month.

Sweet 16

Littler was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, on January 21, 2007 and began playing darts aged nine. He won the England Youth Grand Prix in 2019 and began to rack up tournament wins. He became England Youth Open champion in 2021 and won his first senior title at the Irish Open later that year. In 2022 he won the Welsh Open and this year notched further senior titles at the Isle of Man Classic, Gibraltar Open, British Open and British Classic.

Bookies take heed

After his impressive victory on the biggest stage against Kist on Wednesday night – Littler hit seven 180s and averaged 106.12 – the teenager spoke of his pride at making the highest average on debut at the PDC World Championship. He made 50 per cent of his doubles during an electric display that has seen his odds to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy slashed to 14-1, making him seventh favourite.

‘You’ve got school in the morning’

Littler thrived on the electric atmosphere at Alexandra Palace during his first-round win
Littler thrived on the electric atmosphere at Alexandra Palace during his first-round win (Zac Goodwin/PA)

During Littler’s stunning win against Kist, a full house at at Alexandra Palace erupted into a chorus of ‘You’ve got school in the morning’ and the Warrington-based teenager responded by pumping his chest as he revelled in the atmosphere. His performance was not, however, a complete shock. His breakthrough year in 2023, in which he also won the Gibraltar Open and the PDC World Youth Championship, saw him installed as heavy 3-10 favourite to beat Kist.

‘Everybody Take a Shot’

Littler walks out to play Christian Kist with Pitbull's Greenlight blaring at Alexandra Palace
Littler walks out to play Christian Kist with Pitbull’s Greenlight blaring at Alexandra Palace (Zac Goodwin/PA)

Littler’s walk-on music at Alexandra Palace is Greenlight by American rapper Pitbull and features the lyrics “Red light, green light, everybody take a shot. Red light, green light, give me everything you got”. It was released in 2016 as the second single off Pitbull’s 10th studio album Climate Change and the video, filmed in Miami, has over 99 million views on YouTube.

Favourite to progress

Next up for the darts prodigy is a second-round clash at Alexandra Palace on Thursday night against 53-year-old Andrew Gilding, from Ipswich. Gilding won the Cazoo UK Open in Minehead earlier this year when he beat Michael van Gerwen 11–10 in a last-leg decider and is currently 20th in the PDC rankings, but despite Gilding’s obvious experience advantage, Littler is 1-4 favourite to progress through to the third round.