With the World Darts Championships approaching, talk on Love the Darts has turned to the famous tournament and who can stop ‘scary’ Luke Littler.
Littler will begin his defense of the World Darts Championship against Darius Labanauskas on Thursday, December 11, live on Sky Sports.
As usual, the defending champions will play on the opening night with a thrilling clash between 2023 world champion Michael Smith and Lisa Ashton also set for what will be a huge Thursday of action.
Littler, of course, is the favorite for this year’s competition as he looks to become the first player to return to the World Series of Darts twice in a row since Gary Anderson 10 years ago.
For Colin Lloyd, his trajectory has been something special to watch, and now the talk will really turn to how to support him in 2026.
“In one word, scary. Yes, absolutely scary. He’s 18 years old,” Lloyd said on Twitter. I love arrows Podcast.
“He just hit puberty. And what he achieved in the game. You wouldn’t think it was possible.
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“You wouldn’t really think it would be possible because of all the quality players there. Like James Wade who can stop people, Gerwyn Price, Luke Humphries, Johnny Clayton.
“There are a lot of players you can choose from who had opportunities to stop him. But unfortunately on that day, they were not good enough.
“So what has he achieved? It’s been a tremendous year.
“It will be interesting to see – this looks really bad – it will be interesting to see what he does next year.
“Let’s just say we were saying this time last year, right? Yeah, let’s see if he wins the world championship this year.
“How committed is he to the tour? Because I think the tour will keep you on your toes.”
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Down to the price to prevent it?
There is a wealth of talent on Littler’s side of the draw but for those analyzing, the most optimistic candidate to stop Littler in his tracks could be Gerwyn Price.
They are expected to meet in the quarter-finals.
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He added: “Yes, I mean Darius is dangerous. Darius Labanauskas can be dangerous. If you give him a chance.”
“Luke was a player who didn’t give chances very often. If he did that, he would be able to come back, wouldn’t he? Yes, yes. He could come back clinically.
“I mean, you look at Luke’s group. I mean, you’ve got the likes of Damon Hita, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Chris Dobie there, and Luke Woodhouse. He’s someone who has quietly continued his work recently.
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“There are a lot of people who, if they were at their level, could cause an upset, but at this moment in time, he is riding the crest of the wave and knows what he can do at this moment and loves to apply that pressure.
“When he puts pressure on, he takes it, and he thrives on everything. So I’m sorry to say to Darius, it’s great for you to qualify for the world championship, but I don’t think you’re going to get anything from the reigning world champion and defending world champion.
“Maybe the person is Jerwyn Price.”
Who will win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship? Watch every match exclusively live from 11 December to 3 January on the dedicated darts channel Sky Sports (Sky channel 407 from 10 December). Stream darts and more of the best sports with NOW.
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2025-12-05 07:00:00
