Luke Littler had an obvious reaction when he met KSI on Saturday.
Littler continued his incredible rise to stardom by defeating Michael van Gerwen 8-5 at the Bahrain Masters to win his first PDC senior title.
The teenager, who celebrates his 17th birthday on January 21, reached the final of the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace earlier this month, falling short to Luke Humphries. It became a hot topic in the sports world.
However, Littler bounced back and defeated three-time world champion Van Gerwen in the eighth and 12th legs to ultimately win the tournament.
Littler, who threw nine darters in the first leg of his quarter-final win over Nathan Aspinall, told ITV4: “No one will believe me, but I hadn’t thrown a dart since the world final until yesterday.
“MVG is awesome. I’m so happy to win on my debut. This week was unbelievable.”
After his win in Bahrain, the darts prodigy returned to the UK and sat ringside with his girlfriend at a Misfits boxing event.
There he was warmly welcomed by social media star and YouTube boxer KSI, and the two posed for photos and had a short conversation.
And when footage of the encounter surfaced on social media, fans were quick to note how “starred” Littler seemed, and that his awe was perhaps a sign of his age. added.
One person wrote on X (officially on Twitter), “Looks like he’s a star lol, you forget he’s just a 16 year old gamer.”
Another person wrote: “It’s hard to believe that a 16-year-old boy, who no one knew until December, could have his life change so dramatically and so quickly. This is unprecedented in the darts world. That was great.”
Another person said, “He was 5 years old when the race to Division 1 started…” citing KSI’s historic YouTube video.
A fourth person said: “On a deeper level, Luke Littler is probably too young to have witnessed KSI, but he’s a little crazy and makes you feel like an old man.”