Luke Littler was brought back down to earth with a bump recently but has sent a defiant message to Michael van Gerwen
Luke Littler has delivered a bold message to darts heavyweight Michael van Gerwen following his unexpected defeat at the hands of Robert Grundy.
The rising star, known as ‘The Nuke’, was swiftly ousted from Players Championship 13 in the first round by 116th world-ranked Grundy. This upset coming hot on the heels of his Polish Masters victory.
Despite this stumble, the teenager exhibits no loss in self-belief. Prior to his World Matchplay confrontation with MVG, Littler took to social media with a cheeky show of bravado.
In a brazen post, he listed the venues where he’d previously beaten Van Gerwen, with check-mark emojis after each one. Then, he placed a sand timer emoji next to ‘Winter Gardens’, which is where the two will face off on July 13. He also told fans to “get your popcorn ready,” adding, “it’s going to be sick”.]
A day after losing to Grundy, Littler suffered another surprise defeat, with World No. 92 James Hurrell getting the better of him at the Players Championship 14. Earlier in the day he’d sealed a hard-fought victory over Ricky Evans in the first round, but looked for from his very best.
Speaking after the draw, defending champion Nathan Aspinall admitted he was delighted to have escaped facing the teenager. “I’m glad I avoided Luke, definitely,” the Asp said. “I could have drawn Gary [Anderson] or Luke. It’s not Littler who I thought I was going to get!”
Aspinall ended up drawing Luke Househouse instead, while world champion Luke Humphries drew newcomer Ricardo Pietreczko and Michael Smith was paired with Gary Anderson in the pick of the opening round games.
