Darts News
Luke Littler believes he can hunt down Phil Taylor’s record of 16 world titles after becoming the youngest ever PDC world darts champion.
The 17-year-old consolidated his status as the biggest star in the game by winning the PDC World Championship with a comprehensive 7-3 victory over Michael van Gerwen in Friday’s final at Alexandra Palace in London.
Continue reading...Luke Littler, 17, turned a dream final into a procession to become the youngest world champion in darts history
Read Jonathan Liew on semi-final night
Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor, Raymond van Barneveld, Michael van Gerwen: turns out this was the preamble. When the chroniclers of the future come to write the tale of this sport, they will recognise two eras: before Luke Littler, and after.
Continue reading...Luke Littler was too good for Nathan Aspinall while Michael van Gerwen beat Callan Rydz in an epic on quarter-final day
Dobey 0-1 Price (legs 2-3) Price steals the first set with a majestic 11-dart break! He made it back-to-back COMAAANNNNNNNNNS with a 180 on his first visit, nicking the darts in the process. An excellent 140 left him on 82 after nine – and he needed only two more on his next visit: bullseye, D16, COMANNNNNN.
In the context of Dobey’s quarter-final woes, that’s a brutal start from Price.
Continue reading...The Guardian and Observer sport photographer selects his favourite images of the year and recalls the stories behind them
It’s been quite a year, and one totally dominated by the “big three”: the men’s Euros in Germany and the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. This a personal selection of my favourite pictures, a few of which haven’t been published before. Some have been chosen for their news value; others are here because there’s a nice tale behind them.
Continue reading...Luke Littler struggled to hit top form but still did enough to ease into the last 16 of the world championship with a 4-1 win over Ian White at Alexandra Palace. The 17-year-old survived a series of errant doubles and had set darts against him in the first and fourth sets before finding his range when it mattered to sink his veteran opponent.
Littler, who averaged just under 98 for the match, told Sky Sports: “It was tough, Ian threw everything at me and I had to stay switched on. It was just a case of settling into it. I know what’s gone wrong tonight – the doubles – but most importantly, I’ve won.”
Continue reading...The world No 1 Luke Humphries continued his bid for back-to-back World Darts Championship titles after easing through to the last 16.
There was high drama in Alexandra Palace on the first day back after the Christmas break, where Damon Heta threw a nine-dart finish before Humphries enjoyed a serene evening.
Continue reading...Guardian writers recall their memorable occasions over the past year, from fraternity in the F1 paddock to an indiscreet moment in the darts
You hear all sorts of whispers at the Olympics; my favourite this year was about the 61-year-old grandmother Ni Xialian, who had an outside shot in the women’s table tennis. She won world titles for China in the early 1980s, then fell in love with another player, Tommy Danielsson, and moved to Luxembourg to run a hotel. She still plays and at this year’s Games she won her first match but lost to the world champion in the second. Afterwards, she spent a happy hour offering life advice to the assembled press. “I was worried if I was good enough, but if you never play, you’ll never know,” she said, “and as I always say: ‘I’m always younger today than I will be tomorrow.’” Andy Bull
Continue reading...Former champion Rob Cross and Dave Chisnall crashed out of the PDC world championship as more seeds were scattered at Alexandra Palace.
Cross, the fifth seed and 2018 champion, lost 3-1 to Scott Williams while Ricky Evans survived a match dart against him to upset Chisnall, the sixth seed, in an epic second-round clash decided by a sudden-death leg.
Continue reading...The two-time winner Gary Anderson endured a 54th birthday to forget as he crashed out of the PDC World Darts Championship following a shock second-round defeat by Jeffrey de Graaf.
The Scot, champion in 2015 and 2016, hit just three of his 20 checkout attempts as he was whitewashed 3-0 to fall in his opening match of the tournament for the first time. Anderson was the highest profile casualty on a day of upsets at Alexandra Palace in London following exits for fellow seeded players Ross Smith, Martin Schindler, Dirk van Duijvenbode and Ritchie Edhouse.
Continue reading...A tearful Luke Littler came within millimetres of opening his quest for a maiden World Championship crown with a nine-dart finish as he beat Ryan Meikle in record-breaking fashion.
The teenage sensation was back on the Alexandra Palace stage 12 months on from his remarkable debut run to the final and showed everyone why he is the favourite to win the title.
Continue reading...Michael Smith’s alarming run of form continued as he crashed out of the world championship at the first hurdle in a stunning defeat by Kevin Doets. Smith’s form has spiralled since he became world champion in 2023 and it hit a new low after Doets won a deciding set tiebreak 6-4 to claim a 3-2 victory.
For Smith, who was seeded second, not only will he be home and out of the competition before Christmas, he will also drop out of the top 10 in the new year. Doets was able to earn his Alexandra Palace redemption after losing to Smith in a final-set decider at the same stage 12 months ago.
Continue reading...Christian Kist earned himself a bumper payday by firing a stunning nine-dart finish at the PDC world championship – but went on to lose his match against Madars Razma.
The Dutchman threw the perfect leg in the opening set of his first-round match to scoop £60,000. Kist achieved the feat by hitting back-to-back 180s and finished it off with a treble 20, treble 19 and a magical double 12 to send the Alexandra Palace crowd wild and claim the first set.
This story will be updated
Continue reading...No one could stop Keely Hodgkinson on the track in 2024 – or, as it turned out, the battle for public opinion as the Olympic 800m champion lifted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
“As a little girl, I dared to dream big,” said the 22-year-old from Atherton, near Wigan, after being rewarded for a remarkable year, in which she won Olympic and European gold, obliterated her own British record, and remained unbeaten over two laps.
Continue reading...The Olympic 800m champion took the big prize in the BBC’s annual jamboree, with darts star Luke Littler second and Joe Root third
Root has a live chat from his hotel in New Zealand. It’s just gone 8am there, the morning after the Test series ended, and he’s looking a little bleary-eyed. Only once, in 2021, has he scored more runs than he has this year. “It’s been a hell of a journey, but it seems to get more and more enjoyable,” he says.
Jimmy Anderson on Root. You won’t get many better quotes than this.
I can’t think of a better role model for the game of cricket. I’ve got children, I’d love for them to grow up and be that sort of person.
Continue reading...The four-time semi-finalist James Wade crashed out of the World Darts Championship at the first hurdle as he was thrashed 3-0 by Jermaine Wattimena. Wade, the 16th seed, won the first leg of the round two contest at Alexandra Palace, but lost the next eight in succession as Wattimena turned on the style.
The Dutchman hit a superb 126 finish to move within one leg of victory and although Wade held his nerve to hit double 20 with his last dart to stay alive, the left-hander crucially missed four darts at double 10 in the next leg.
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