FORMER BBC presenter Des Lynam claims Luke Littler was “bred for the job” amid his incredible sporting rise.
Littler burst onto the scene at the 2023-24 Word Darts Championship aged just 16 and made it to the final on his first attempt.
Despite losing out to Luke Humphries on the Ally Pally stage, he earned a spot in the Premier League Darts line-up alongside some of Europe’s top stars.
And at the end of his debut campaign, he got revenge on Humphries to win the title.
Littler also won several other accolades in 2024 – including the World Series of Darts.
He ended the year by winning the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year award.
But the 17-year-old is now eyeing the biggest prize in darts – the World Championship title.
Littler faces Stephen Bunting tonight in the semi-finals.
The Nuke has remained the favourite throughout the competition.
And former Match of the Day host Lynam has praised him for his incredible influence on the sport.
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In a column for The Telegraph, he wrote: “Darts has now become a masterpiece of sports TV, benefiting from some excellent players from around the world and, in particular, the superstardom of Luke Littler, recently voted second in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year.
“He had a tricky passage against Ryan Joyce to reach Wednesday’s quarter-finals.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Stephen Bunting reveals his dad’s DIY is behind unique throw ahead of World Darts Championship semi with Luke Littler” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366621480112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]He added: “If Littler does win the title, he will earn £500,000.
“He was bred for the job; his parents introduced him to the game when he was just a toddler but it has become clear that the competition is getting tougher.”
Should he beat Bunting tonight, Littler will face either Chris Dobey or Michael van Gerwen in Friday’s final.