Littler Launches Title Defence With Dominant Opening-Night Win
So, the World Darts Championship is underway again, and the spotlight has immediately swung back onto the young man who changed the sport almost overnight — Luke Littler. At just 18, he walked back onto the Alexandra Palace stage as the defending world champion, the world number one, and the headline attraction of opening night. And honestly, he played like someone who had no intention of giving up that crown anytime soon.
His first-round opponent, Darius Labanauskas of Lithuania, wasn’t just making up the numbers. The 49-year-old has been on this stage before, even reaching the quarter-finals once, and he came out firing. He held throw in the very first leg with a brilliant 130 checkout on the bull, and for a moment it felt like Littler might be forced into an early scrap. Both of the opening sets actually went to deciding legs, so even though the scoreboard eventually read 3-0 to Littler, it was clear that Labanauskas wasn’t rolling over.
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But then Littler did what Littler tends to do. He settled. He found rhythm. And the moment that happened, the match shifted. A three-dart average of 101.54 was posted, and seven 180s were thrown in the process. Those trademark bursts of precision and power arrived — the kind of scoring runs where you can almost sense the air being sucked out of the room for whoever stands across from him.
The finishing was where he really separated himself. A 124 checkout on the bull, followed immediately by the classic Shanghai 120 finish, put him on the verge of victory in the third set. And with his very first dart at double six, the match was wrapped up. Nine out of 14 on the doubles — that’s the sort of efficiency that wins world titles, and it’s exactly why so many players openly admit how hard it is to halt his momentum once he gets moving.
Afterward, Littler admitted there were some nerves, saying that the first round is always the hardest. And he’s right — every player knows that settling into a world championship can be a challenge. But once he grabbed that early leg and then the opening set, you could see the tension lift. Now he gets ten days off before returning to face either Mario Vandenbogaerde or David Davies in round two.
It’s amazing to think that less than two years ago he was the teenage sensation taking the sport by storm. Since then, he’s risen to world No. 1, completed the Triple Crown, lifted multiple major trophies, and created an aura that seems to grow with every match. And as this title defence begins, the question already floating around Ally Pally is the same one that’s been whispered all year: can anyone actually stop him?
Right now, it certainly doesn’t look easy.
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