Luke Littler believes he may not be able to surpass Phil Taylor’s World Darts Championship title record despite a winning start to his title defense at Alexandra Palace.
The world No. 1, who is looking to emulate Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson by winning back-to-back world championships, averaged 101.54 points with a seven-time high in a straight-sets win over Darius Rabanaskas in the opening round.
‘The Nuke’ reached the finals in both of his first two appearances at the World Darts Championship, finishing second to Luke Humphries on his debut before defeating Michael van Gerwen in last year’s showpiece to win the Sid Waddell Trophy.
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Two years on from Luke Littler’s World Darts Championship debut, Sky Sports News explores the new number one’s impact on the game in this new documentary.
Littler said earlier this year that he was “capable of” chasing Taylor’s 16 world championships (14 of them in the PDC), but he has since downplayed the possibility of breaking that record.
Asked if he had a goal for the world title, Littler told Sky Sports before his win: Personally, I don’t think anyone would.
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Defending world champion Luke Littler on whether he or anyone else has a chance of matching Phil Taylor’s record of 16 world titles
“I personally don’t think it will happen. In fact, I’ve never told myself how many (world titles) I want. I’m sure it will come one day and I’ll pick a number.”
Littler has enjoyed an impressive 12 months since his World Championship glory, winning television titles at the British Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and The Players Championship final, but is looking forward to enjoying further success at Alexandra Palace.
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Asked about his recent dominance in darts, Luke Ritter channeled his inner Mick McCarthy.
“This (winning a second title) is (the most important thing),” Littler added. It’s been 10 years since Gary Anderson has won back-to-back titles, and becoming only the fourth player to do so means everything.
“It’s been a really good year for me as I’ve only won four majors. I was disappointed to lose to Luke (Humphries) in the Premier League, but there’s definitely next year to win what I didn’t get.”
Littler: It certainly wasn’t easy!
Littler was forced into a deciding final leg in the first two sets by Rabanaskas, who opened with a 130 checkout, but a flurry of finishes in the third set saw ‘The Nuke’ wrap up the victory and book a matchup with either Belgium’s Mario Vandenbogarde or Welsh qualifier David Davis.
“It definitely wasn’t easy[to beat Rabanaskas],” Littler told Sky Sports. “When I looked at the stats, it didn’t look like that, but I’m happy!”
Littler added in a subsequent press conference: “The most difficult match is over, so I’ll be back in 10 days. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself and my performance showed.”
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Luke Littler achieved consecutive 100+ finishes against Darius Rabanaskas at the World Darts Championship.
“Going into the fight, I wasn’t concerned about making a statement or not. I just wanted to get through the first round. My performance didn’t feel like it was going to (make a statement), but I’m going to take everything positive.”
“I’m not looking back. The job is done. I’m very happy with the performance. Now I’m going to take it easy until Tuesday, go watch Manchester United v Bournemouth on Monday and then spend a few hours there.”
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After his win over Darius Rabanaskas, Luke Littler spent the beginning of his post-fight interview dodging the famous Alexandra Palace bee.
What’s next?
The World Darts Championship takes place on Friday 12th December with two bumper sessions of opening round action.
The afternoon session will be live from 12.30pm and will feature Niels Sonnefeld vs. Haupai Puha, Ian White vs. Mervyn King, Ryan Searle vs. Chris Landman and Rob Cross vs. Coe Decker.
And in the evening session, Ross Smith takes on Andreas Harrison, Ricky Evans takes on Man Lok Leong, Jan Van Veen takes on Cristo Reyes and Damon Geta clashes with Steve Lennon.
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match live and exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated darts channel (Sky channel 407) until January 3rd. Stream darts and other top sports now.
