Michael Smith has made a bold Luke Littler statement after beating the teenager on the opening night of the Premier League Darts.
17-year-old sensation Littler announced himself to the world during his stunning run to the final of the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace last month.
However, the teenager from Warrington was denied a fairytale ending by world number Luke Humphries.
Littler secured his place in the 2024 Premier League season and made his debut on opening night in Cardiff.
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Despite beating Humphries 6-2, Littler was edged out by 2023 world champion Smith 6-5.
Speaking after the victory, Smith said Littler’s popularity is even bigger than darts legend Phil Taylor.
He told reporters: “I actually thought in the semi-final Luke Littler was Welsh. It’s going to be every week, it doesn’t matter where it is.
“Everyone’s fallen in love with him. He’s even bigger than Phil Taylor who won 16 world titles, Luke is the most popular thing in darts.”
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Smith continued: “I’m going to ride the wave. People keep following, sponsors keep coming in, and the prize money is going up for us lads.
“When I walked in this afternoon there were no interviews. Luke Littler walked in and it was ‘can you do this one, can you do that one?’.
“That was me last year. This time I got to sit and chill, break up my time on the board and it worked.”
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Smith ended up beating home favourite Gerwyn Price 6-2 in the final.
The man from St. Helens spoke about the crowd afterwards, he said: “I enjoyed the crowd apart from one or two individuals.
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“I’m not going to say the crowd was disgusting because it was only two or three people, the other three or four thousand were amazing.”
Next week, the Premier League will take place in Berlin, Germany. Littler will take on 2018 world champion Rob Cross in the quarter-finals.
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts
Marcus Chan