Luke Littler believes second world title will see him join giants of the game
Few will back against him lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy on Saturday night.
Luke Littler believes he will be able to stand alongside the giants of the game if he wins a second successive World Championship title.
The precocious teenager looks unstoppable as he reached a third successive final at Alexandra Palace with a 6-1 demolition of Ryan Searle in the last four.
Few will back against him lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy on Saturday night, which will see him become the first man to win back-to-back titles since Gary Anderson a decade ago.
Littler is dominating the sport in the same way Phil Taylor did for the best part of 20 years and Michael van Gerwen did during the mid-2010s.
And the 18-year-old says getting his hands on the silverware will put him in the same bracket.
“Obviously in their primes, they were just absolutely unbelievable. I was watching it as a kid,” Littler said.
“With what I’ve done, I can near enough say I’m playing just as well, with the titles, the averages, the amount of nine-darters on TV.
“Maybe if I get tomorrow, then I might be on my same level.
“I’ve got every right to think I can, but I never, ever say I’m going to win it.
“Never, ever. I never say I’m going to win this and that. We’ll just see how the darts go, because one day it’s different.”
If Littler does become champion – and it is going to take something special to stop him – he would collect a record £1million prize.
“It’s a massive prize, but it’s the trophy on the stage, it’s not the money,” he said. “I’m repeating myself, but ever since the Grand Slam I have just said I want to go back-to-back.
“So hopefully I can lift the trophy again and think about the money after.
“It feels great, not many people have done it, the first three World Championships reaching the final.
“I have joined a short list of people doing that. Now obviously the only goal is to join the list of people going back-to-back champions.”
Perhaps Gian van Veen can be the man to stop Littler after the rising Dutch star reached his first final.
Van Veen won an instant classic against Anderson in a see-saw match that finished just before 11pm.
Although Van Veen won 6-3 that does not tell the story of a thrilling tussle that could have gone either way.
Both men averaged over 102, they both took out a 170 finish and Anderson hit more 180s, but it was Van Veen’s finishing which got the job done.
For significant periods of the match Van Veen, who has enjoyed a breakthrough year and is the new world number three, produced the standard which could match Littler.
The 23-year-old, who comically won the PDC Youth World Championship in November, is now just one win away from getting his hands on a maiden senior title and following in the footsteps of countrymen Raymond van Barneveld and Van Gerwen.
“I am so happy,” he said on stage. “Winning this game… 10 years ago or five years ago, wherever I was, struggling playing darts.
“I remember three or four years ago I was in Barnsley in the Metrodome and I was struggling with dartitis. I was crying at the table and look at me four years later. It’s all been worth it.”
