AK BETS TOP PRICED 350/1 ON RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD TO WIN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
20/12/2024 By Aaron Nijjar
By Phil Lanning
RAYMOND Van Barneveld says that Luke Littler hits doubles and trebles like he has a MAGNET to the board.
The five-times world champion kicks off his bid for another title at the Ally Pally on Saturday against Nick Kenny.
Barney, 57, crashed out to Littler a year ago and this time faces a collision course with defending champ Luke Humphries in the third round.
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He said: “Sometimes I sit at home with my wife on the couch and we’re watching the darts and thinking, watching Luke Littler and Humphries and thinking: Wow.
“It’s like a magnet in his arrows or in the dartboard, so easy he hits these, these triples and doubles.”
On his defeat to ‘The Nuke’ a year ago, he added: “Yeah, I was hoping that because as a young kid, I was told I was one of his idols, same as Phil (Taylor).
“So I was hoping after he won his two, three matches, I was thinking maybe against me, he’d show more like respect, like he’d look up to me.
“That never happened. He beat me by storm. It was unbelievable. “Every, two out of three darts, every time it was a triple and he never missed much doubles either, so it was a hard game.
“But even I had chances. I was 2-0 down and I missed 71 for 2-1 in sets, two darts. And then I won the third set, so it could have been two each if I would have hit my doubles.
“We would never know what could have happened after that because I was missing doubles, but you always get chances.
“My old coach always said you always get chances, but you have to take them. You can even beat a guy with an 88 average, if he had a 100 average, but you have to take your chances, maybe a couple of more high finishes, but everything is possible.
“Everyone thinks Luke Littler is going to be the World Champion now. Everyone believes in that, but it could be someone totally different that you never expect.”
A potential clash between Barney and Humphries in the third round would be an Ally Pally blockbuster.
He added: “We have to be realistic. I’m 57 years old, I came back after I retired. But in my head, anything is still possible.
“I know if I win my first round and Luke Humphries wins his first round, we meet already quite soon in the championship, but if you’re strong enough in your head and you work hard and you believe that you can do this, I wouldn’t be surprised if I can give Luke a good game or maybe even beat him.
“You know what I can do, but he’s the one at the moment, he’s the best player.”
Images by Taylor Lanning.
