Luke Littler fell victim to the 'Ally Pally curse' as he appeared to suffer a bizarre injury to his arm.
The 16-year-old phenom continued his meteoric rise as he dispatched Brendan Dolan to book his spot in the semi-final of the World Darts Champion.
He won his quarter-final clash 5-1 as he casually got the crowd involved in an epic moment on the oche.
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But he didn't have it all his way on New Year's Day.
Littler seemed to experience some discomfort to his throwing arm against Dolan, which was picked up by commentator John Part.
However, the youngster was able to carry on as he beat the world number 28 to book a meeting against Rob Cross.
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Speaking after the win, he suggested he might have been the latest person to fall foul of the infamous Ally Pally wasp, which has bothered players on stage over the years.
"Was I stung by a wasp? I don’t know," Littler said on Sky Sports. "I saw it flying around. I had to focus and get over the line."
Littler has his eyes on the prize as he's just two games away from becoming world champion.
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Standing in his way; 2018 winner Cross, who won the tournament on his debut.
The 33-year-old spoke about Littler's ascent to superstardom ahead of their match tonight.
"Make no mistake, Luke is going to be superb. I wouldn’t like to put too much pressure on him. He will have the weight on him - but if he doesn’t look, he won’t feel it like me in my first year here," he said.
"That boy doesn’t need any advice – but what I would say is that you must follow your path, wherever that leads you. You cannot fight fate. It will happen, it’s written in the stars. Look at him, 16 years old... wow.
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"He's a breath of fresh air and he takes it all in his stride. The way he came out and did a job on Christian, and then found a way to beat Andrew when the going got tough, was fantastic. I think he is going to be great for the game."
Topics: Darts
Nasir Jabbar