Luke Littler: “I’m back to work now. I haven’t been relaxing and throwing too many darts since the World Championship final, but I’m sure once I get into the practice room I’ll be fine. I wanted to run away at the end, but , we did it. We’ll see how the darts go.”
20:26, UK, Wednesday 17 January 2024
Luke Littler has moved on with life after a sensational World Championship campaign and is ready to ‘get back to business’.
The 16-year-old took Alexandra Palace by storm over Christmas and bulldozed his way to the final on his debut, only to lose to Luke Humphries.
During that run, his life changed forever, making him front-page news, enjoying celebrity status and being given a seat at the top table of the sports world.
It starts with his participation in the Bahrain Masters, which begins on Thursday, where he will face Man Lok Leong in the first round.
Littler, who could face Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals, is refreshed after a break and is fired up for the match.
“Now I’m back to work,” he said. “Since the World Championship final, I have relaxed and not thrown many darts, but I am confident that I will be fine once I get into the practice room.
“I always like to play, but after the World Championships I wanted to leave, so me and my family did that. Hopefully we can have a good event here to get back to playing.”
“I’m planning to participate in this event in Bahrain, the Dutch Darts Masters next week and the Premier League. I don’t have any specific goals. I’ll just have to see how darts goes.”
Littler continued to live the high life during his holidays, spending time with his favorite rugby league club Warrington, while also having the opportunity to meet Manchester United great Sir Alex Ferguson.
“It was crazy. Warrington Wolves invited me and I went to the Manchester United game and met Sir Alex Ferguson,” he added.
“It was really great to meet him and he said some nice things to me about staying committed and continuing to believe in yourself.
“This vacation was the perfect way to get away from it all, and we did just that. My life and my family’s life have changed. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have.”
Michael Smith begins his title defense against Paolo Nebrida, while world champion and world number one Humphries begins his match against Abdullah Saeed.
Michael van Gerwen takes on Hasan Hadji, Gerwyn Price takes on Reynaldo Rivera, Aspinal pairs up with Lawrence Ilagan, Rob Cross draws with Tomoya Goto and Peter Wright takes on Haruki Muramatsu. Compete against.