Teenage darts phenomenon and Triple Crown winner Luke Littler is already ushering in the sport's next generation of winners and showing off his scouting abilities.
Littler is younger than his rivals at the oche but has earned the right to dish out credible opinions by completing the Triple Crown in double-quick time, adding last week's World Matchplay Darts title to the 2025 World Darts Championship and the 2024 Premier League title.
'The Nuke' squeezed past James Wade in a highly charged World Matchplay final at Blackpool's Winter Gardens and will have been watching with interest as a new name rose to the top of the pile at Players Championship 22 in Hildesheim on Tuesday.
After bursting into the living rooms of the nation at the 2024 World Darts Championship, Littler spoke exclusively to SPORTbible and picked out some of the sport's other hot prospects, backing Poland's Sebastian Bialecki to step up to the PDC tour.
"I played Gian van Veen [on the Development Tour], he got a tour card," said Littler.
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"Wessel Nijman, he came back after a few years out and got a tour card straight away.
"When I won my fourth round game at the World Championship, Nathan Rafferty got his tour card back.
"I’d probably have to say Sebastian Bialecki from Poland, he’s doing well on the Modus Super Series so it wouldn’t surprise me if he got his tour card."
Sure enough, the 21-year-old Pole now has a ranking event win to his name.
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Bialecki defeated Van Geen 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship contest at Hildesheim's Halle 39 before seeing off Danny Nopert 7-5 in the last four.
In the final, he completed a Netherlands triple-header by beating Niels Zonneveld 8-6 in a closely fought final.
'The Bolt' hit the high notes in Hildesheim
"He broke new ground with a landmark win, overturning a 6-4 deficit against Zonneveld to join Krzysztof Ratajski and Radek Szaganski in becoming the third Polish player to win a senior ranking title," reports Sky Sports.
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"Bialecki registered ton-plus averages in wins over Menzies and Van Veen while he also converted 161 and 156 checkouts to defeat Noppert 7-5 in the semi-finals."
Littler's specific prediction was also accurate. 'The Bolt' joined the tour this year. He is currently ranked number 98 in the world by the PDC.
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler
Chris Nee