With the World Darts Championship just around the corner, the conversation on the Love the Darts podcast turned to the famous tournament and who can stop the “terrible” Luke Littler.
Littler will begin his World Darts Championship defense against Darius Labanauskas live on Sky Sports on Thursday 11th December.
As is customary, the defending champions are set to play on opening night in an intriguing showdown between 2023 World Champion Michael Smith and Lisa Ashton in what is set to be another big Thursday match.
Of course, Littler is the favorite for this year’s competition as he aims to become the first player to compete in the World Darts Championship two years in a row since Gary Anderson 10 years ago.
For Colin Lloyd, his trajectory has been special to watch unfold, and now the conversation has already turned to how he will back it up in 2026.
“In a word, terrifying. Yes, absolutely terrifying. He’s 18 years old,” Lloyd said on the Love the Darts podcast.
“He’s just grown up. And what he accomplished in the game, I never would have thought it was possible.
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“I wouldn’t have really thought it was possible because we’ve got class players, Gerwyn Price, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, players like James Wade who can stop people.
“There are a lot of players who had a chance to stop him, but unfortunately they weren’t good enough on this day.
“So what has he accomplished? It’s been a great year.
“It will be interesting to see, this is going to sound really bad, but it will be interesting to see what he does next year.
“Let’s say this time last year we said, okay, let’s see if he wins this year’s world championship.
“How hard is he going to work on touring? Because I think touring keeps you sharp.”
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Are you going to get Price to stop him?
There’s a lot of talent on Littler’s side, but for those watching, Gerwyn Price might be the most promising candidate to stop Littler.
It is expected that the two may meet in the quarterfinals.
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“Yes, I mean, Darius is dangerous. Darius Rabanaskas can be dangerous too, if you give him a chance,” he added.
“Luke is a player that you don’t give a lot of chances to. If you give him a chance, he can come back, right? Yes, that’s right. He can clinically come back.”
“I mean, you look down on Luke in the group, so you have guys like Damon Heta, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Chris Dobbie, Luke Woodhouse, who until recently has been quietly going about his job.
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“There are a lot of guys who could cause an upset if they just focus on their game, but he’s on the crest of a wave at the moment, he knows what he’s capable of at the moment, and he loves to put that pressure on.”
“When you put pressure on him, he takes it and does everything. So, I feel sorry for Darius, but while it’s great to qualify for the world championship, I don’t think we can get anything from the current world number one and defending world champion.”
“That person is probably Gerwyn Price.”
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407 from December 10) from 11 December to 3 January. Stream darts and other top sports now.
