Luke Littler has finally broken his silence after sustaining a shock exit from the Bahrain Masters on Friday.
Littler, 17, was eliminated in the quarter-finals after Gerwyn Price, who put in an impressive performance, won 6-2 against the defending champion.
The Welshman was too good for Littler and even progressed to the final before finally tasting an 8-4 defeat against Stephen Bunting, who bounced back from the disappointment of losing against Littler in the recent PDC World Darts Championship final.
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As for Littler, he may be forgiven for a dip in form after securing his first-ever World Championship just two weeks ago.
The teenager, who will celebrate his 18th birthday next week, will no doubt pick up more trophies in 2025 as he aims to become world number one, a spot currently occupied by Luke Humphries.
And despite suffering a loss, he was graceful in defeat and took to Instagram shortly after the match against Price.
Littler posted a photograph of him throwing a dart to his Instagram account with the caption: “Not my night but great game @gerwynpriceiceman180🤝 heading home for a few days then looking forward to the Dutch Darts Master.”
The competition will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between January 24 and 25 with eight ‘PDC representatives’ including Littler, Humphries, Price, Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey, Bunting and Rob Cross set to face eight ‘Benelux representatives’ including veteran and former world number one Raymond van Barneveld.
Van Gerwen, 35, is the current Dutch Darts Masters champion, having defeated Littler in the 2024 final of the tournament.
Speaking to Sky Sports earlier this month, Littler outlined his ambitions for the year.
"When you're playing so good, you can feel the nine coming," he said.
"I am now just going to recharge the batteries and chill but people are going to see that I'm going to be hungry for more titles this year and hopefully I can go one better and win 11 or even 12 onwards.
"Obviously if I can add some more money to the rankings, we all know how much Humphries is defending, it is a hell of a lot of money.
"But another thing, I can't wait to play in the World Cup with him. Maybe at the end of 2025, I can see myself number one."
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler, Michael van Gerwen
Luke Davies