Luke Littler’s friend and darts star Nathan Aspinall can pinpoint exactly when he knew he was special.
Littler has made a meteoric rise in darts since the beginning of 2024, winning a whole host of tournaments including the Premier League.
His rise began at the World Darts Championship, where he flew on to the Alexandra Palace stage as a qualifier, but reached the final before being narrowly beaten by Luke Humphries.
Having first played against Littler at the age of 12, darts star Aspinall is more than qualified to discuss his friend’s career.
And ‘The Asp’ believes the breakthrough moment came as he watched on as his training partner demolished Christian Kist in the opening round of the tournament.
He told talkSPORT.com: “It has to be the first game of the worlds even though I knew him before.
“He played Christian Kist. If I’m deadly honest with you, the way he handled himself and walked on that stage on his debut.
“It was a tough game for him, he performed like that and I thought ‘Bloody hell, you’ve even opened my eyes here mate’.
“And that was probably the first moment I thought that he was special.”
The teenage talent was just 16-years-old at the time, and he breezed past UK Open champion Gilding in the following round in scintillating fashion to continue his rise.
He showed an array of impressive scoring and neat board management, which saw his name go viral overnight.
‘The Nuke’ showed no sign of letting up, beating the likes of Raymond Van Barneveld in a thrilling campaign which earned him a full-time place on the PDC tour.
Littler has taken to the sport like a duck to water, and it has been an impressive rise which every step along the way has been witnessed by Aspinall.
The pair have played each other on stage at several tournaments including on multiple occasions in the recent Premier League.
But it is a friendly rivalry, with the pair belting out their walk-on songs together including Aspinall’s infamous Mr Brightside by The Killers.
The hectic schedule will continue for the British pair, who will both play at the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool for the World Matchplay.
Littler has been drawn in a huge showdown against three-time Matchplay champion Michael Van Gerwen.
Aspinall will begin a defence of his title against Luke Woodhouse, one year on from his stunning campaign in Blackpool.
