RVB: “IMPOSSIBLE” TO STOP LITTLER

LEGEND Raymond van Barneveld believes it could be IMPOSSIBLE to stop Luke Littler.

The Dutch star lost out to the 17-year-old Warrington wonderkid in the last 16 of the World Championship at the Ally Pally last December.

Littler was finally beaten by Michael van Gerwen who ended his 2024 seven-match unbeaten run with victory in the Dutch Masters final on Saturday night.

But five-time world champ Barney, 56, believes that Littler has the right temperament and game to dominate the sport.

RVB said: “I’ve got unbelievable admiration for him. He’s now 17, he was 16 and I’m thinking we all know he could play well. But he took the world by storm. Unbelievable.

“He talks to the press, all the people on social media, everyone has comments about him. Good ones or bad ones and he still managed to play his awesome game.

“We are going to hear a lot from Luke Littler. This young man wins the Bahrain Masters, try to stop him.”

Van Barneveld also believes that Littler came within a wire of going on to becoming World Champion at the Ally Pally.

Littler needed 112 and missed double two to go 5-2 against Luke Humphries in the final on January 3. That would have put him just six legs away from glory on his debut.

Instead his dart was narrowly outside the crucial double and Humphries took the set and the next four to take the title.

Barney added: “If he had hit that 112 finish, he would have led Luke Humphries 5-2 in the final. Probably Luke Humphries would have been gone then.

“If you look at the first two sets he was hitting 15, 11, 12 dart legs. You can’t beat that, you have to hit nine-darters on his throw and that’s impossible.”