Luke Littler crowned Grand Slam of Darts champion
18/11/2024 By Aaron Nijjar
Teenage sensation Luke Littler trounced Martin Lukeman 16-3 to win his first TV ranking major at the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton.
The 17-year-old found himself 2-0 down before completing a 15-leg spree to lead 15-2 and go one leg away from winning.
Lukeman stopped the rot before Littler held throw to win the sacred Eric Bristow trophy, elevating the teenager inside the world’s top five in his first year as a tour card holder.
Littler’s impressive week of work earned him £150,000, as he became only the third player, after Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen, to average over 100 in every match throughout the tournament.
“I was very happy with my performance. The best feeling was when all the confetti came out. This is what we play for,” Littler reflected.
“The World Championship changed me and changed my performance. Now the months have gone on and I’m getting used to it all. I’m going to have to get used to it for a very long time.
“This is one of the ones I wanted to win. My major record isn’t the best, but it’s ok now. I wanted to come here and go deep. It’s even better now I’ve done it. It shows I’m still here.
“I’ve always got to have the scoring power with me. I can’t afford to drop off in any leg. I had a slow start but I kicked on from there.
“I knew coming into the tournament if I did get my hands on the trophy I’d be up to No.5 in the world. But No.5 in the space of 12 months. There’s another two more rankings tournaments to come. I hope I can go higher from five.”
“How will I celebrate? Go home, play on the XBox for a bit…”
Lukeman reached his first televised final since winning his tour card in 2021 but heaped praise on Littler’s success.
“I just got to take my hat off to Luke, that boy is just mustard. It’s just ridiculous,” he told Oche180.com
“How can you compete with that? It’s just like, it’s like godly, it’s just like will you leave off? Just give me a couple legs to get into it but he’s just relentless! The boy’s so good, it’s ridiculous!”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
