Luke Littler is darts Triple Crown king as the Nuke savours seeing his name being added to idol's trophy

Daily Record

21 hours ago

Littler completes the major set of three at the age of 18 by beating James Wade and taking his youngest winner tag in the process
Record-setting Luke Littler admits it means the world to put his name on idol Phil Taylor's trophy and seal a Triple Crown
‌
With the World Championship title and a Premier League crown already in the bag, the spellbinding teenager added the final piece of the darts jigsaw in Blackpool with the Betfred World Matchplay.
‌
Littler recovered from losing the first five legs of the Final to rampage back and deny James Wade at the Winter Gardens to become the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious title.
‌
Ironically, it was the Londoner who had held that tag for 18 years after scooping the trophy at the age of 24 back in 2007. But his attempts to bridge the near two-decade gap and triumph again were thwarted by the Warrington wonderkid.
Littler stormed back to secure an 18-13 success and have his name engraved on the silverware named in honour of his hero The Power.
‌
The 18-year-old is the fifth youngest to have achieved the remarkable Triple Crown feat alongside Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries and he said: 'It means absolutely everything. My idol Phil, he's come here 16 times, he's won it. but now my name is on the list, it'll be on this trophy. And I can say I have completed the Triple Crown.
'Since I started on the tour, since I got my tour card, I've always said to myself: As long as I win one of every major, I'll be happy. I've only got a few left to tick off. But I'll definitely chase the majors that I haven't won yet.'
Littler once again showed mettle to match his class as he had to recover from another nightmare start.
‌
Having trailed 5-0 at the first break of his semi-final against Josh Rock, Littler, astonishingly, ended up in the same boat 24 hours later.
Wade's power scoring and lethal finishing saw him sweep the session, yet The Nuke's response was even feistier than Saturday night as he rattled them all straight back to level at 5-5 without giving his opponent a single dart at a double.
Littler, who also fought back in the earlier rounds to beat Jermaine Wattiemena, went in front for the first time in the 13th leg and, from that point, he was able to keep edging away to set up the final thrust and surge through the line.
‌
He said: 'Obviously, 5-0 down once again. I said to myself, you've been here before, what are you doing? But I managed to pull it out the bag, managed to win the next five and it was five apiece. I think James started to drop off a bit and I started to find my best darts.
'There's obviously been a few times in the past where I've got myself back into a game. But in the past week, it's really shown me as a player. It's shown that I can come back from 5-0 down, I can go back from 7-3 down and I'm just glad to win.
‌
'I came here last year, lost the first round. Some people might have thought I'd lose again, but it's been really good. I'm just so happy that I've pulled myself out of these scorelines and I don't want to be 5-0 down again.
'I've definitely put them [family and girlfriend] through it by trailing in games, but I'm very happy to spend a long 10 days in Blackpool and I've come out victorious.
'Once again, pulling myself out of these scorelines that I'm trailing by and getting myself back into the game, finding the 180s. It's been a good 10 days.'
Littler broke the previous record of 56 for tournament 180s at a Matchplay by taking his tally to 64 through the Final and smiled: 'Ooh, just by eight!'
The kid now has time to savour success before his next outing in the World Series Down Under and said: 'I want to go home, back to a bit of normality. Rest next week, chill out and then fly over to Australia and see everyone over there.'