Luke Littler responds after being called "arrogant" by Belgian open opponent

Luke Littler has responded after being branded "arrogant" by his Belgian Open semi-final opponent.

The 17-year-old darts sensation won the tournament in his European tour debut, defeating Rob Cross 8-7 in an enthralling final.

Littler hit a second televised nine-darter on his way to claiming the £30,000 prize fund in Wieze.

But it was in the teenager's semi-final where there was huge controversy.

Having knocked off Damon Heta and Jermaine Wattimena earlier on, Littler beat German Ricardo Pietreczko 7-3 to set up a showdown in the final against Cross.

But after Littler's win, Pietreczko appeared to square up to 'The Nuke' during an extremely tense and awkward handshake on the stage.

The 29-year-old was furious, while Littler appeared confused yet unnerved at the same time.

Pietreczko would go on to call Littler "arrogant" in a post on his Instagram story later in the evening.

He wrote: "So I appreciated him a lot, that you can play such a game at such an age, but I hope the arrogance punishes him."

Littler responded on his socials but could not understand why Pietreczko had been rattled so much.

He said: "No idea what I did wrong, no idea what he said, something then don't do it again."

No players have had any sort of issue with Littler until now, with the reason for Pietreczko's anger still largely a mystery.

However 2018 champion Cross had nothing but positive words to say about Littler, who recorded a record-breaking 30 maximum 180s across the showpiece.

Speaking afterwards, Cross said: "He really pushes on. I wanted a big display and got a big display. To be fair, I missed a few chances, but I've loved this crowd this weekend.

"This young man has got such a bright future in front of him. The nine-darter was impeccable, amazing. This boy's special."