Luke Littler stunned Michael van Gerwen to cruise to victory at the Bahrain Masters - before claiming he'd 'not thrown a dart' since his World Championships final defeat three weeks ago.
Darts sensation Littler, 16, beat Van Gerwen 8-5 in the final of the PDC World Series event on Friday to continue his meteoric rise and build on his thrilling breakthrough at Ally Pally. Littler carried on his remarkable journey to the final in that competition, grasping his chance in Bahrain by seeing off Man Lok Leung, Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price before earning a huge win against three-time world champion Van Gerwen.
But 'The Nuke' admits he barely prepared for the tournament in the Middle East following his loss to current world No.1 Luke Humphries earlier this month. "I'm happy to win, I played well yesterday and I've played well again tonight," Littler said. "No one probably believes me but I've not threw a dart since the world final.
"Michael is one of the very best and I'm happy to win on my debut. It's been unbelievable this week and I'm happy to come out as the winner."
Littler had got his evening off to a flying start with a stunning nine-darter in his opening leg against Aspinall which set the tone for what was to come. After wrapping up a 6-3 win in the quarter-finals, Littler eased past Price 7-3 to set up a final showdown with Van Gerwen.
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His clash with the Dutchman was a game of cat and mouse from the off, with Littler edging ahead in each leg before going in 4-3 ahead at the mini-interval. The teenager came out firing and took a two-leg advantage, but Van Gerwen was able to fight back to draw level at 5-5.
Littler, who had missed a number of big chances already in the match, spurned another opportunity to go ahead but recovered with Van Gerwen too far back, tilting the tie 6-5 in the Brit's favour. The next leg was a similar story, though this time Van Gerwen failed to check-out on a double five before Littler, who had just missed three darts at double tops, took his second opportunity to edge closer to home.
Littler beat Michael van Gerwen in the final (@OfficialPDC/Twitter)With breathing space assured, a confident Littler cruised to victory without any further drama, confidently nailing double 20 at the first time of asking to claim his first PDC World Series title.
Van Gerwen, who was gracious in defeat, said: "It's never going to be a good week when I'm not winning but Luke had a fantastic performance. Everyone knows what he is capable of - let him grow, let him do his thing.
"I couldn't produce what I produced in the earlier games and you get punished and that's the way sport works. Of course I'm disappointed but you win some, you lose some. I'll get him, don't worry!"
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