The 18-year-old wrapped up back-to-back Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship wins after beating Gian van Veen 6-1 at the Ally Pally, before paying tribute to the boxer following the tragic car crash
Darts sensation Luke Littler has dedicated his back-to-back Paddy Power PDC World Darts Championship victories to Anthony Joshua’s friends who tragically lost their lives in a car crash.
The young starlet, fresh from a crushing 7-1 victory over Gian van Veen in the final at the Ally Pally on Saturday, took a moment during his post-match interview with Sky Sports to express his condolences following last week’s crash in Nigeria. The accident saw Joshua sustain minor injuries and spend some time in hospital.
But two of his close friends and team members, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, lost their lives. The car’s driver, Kayode Adeniyi, has since been charged by the police in Nigeria, with the BBC reporting that the charges include causing death by dangerous driving.
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During his post-match interview, Littler said: “It feels amazing. First of all thanks to John McDonald and John Noble – what a fantastic career they have had.”
“In my first year Russ Bray retired, now these two legends! I’m a bit late to the party!”.
He then turned his thoughts to the recent tragedy involving former heavyweight champion Joshua: “I’ve been wanting to say this. Everyone knows what happened with Anthony Joshua and his guy and his team and his friends.
“Just like AJ said ‘the first time was so nice, I had to do it twice!’”
In winning the tournament for the second successive year, Littler becomes just the fourth player to defend their crown and the first in 10 years to do so. The last successful defence was by Gary Anderson back in 2016.
The win also sees him bank a record £1 million in prize money. Speaking about the match, Littler said: “I started playing a bit better from there (set three), obviously the first set, I wasn’t happy going into the break 1-0 down, but I just had to kick on from there.
“I said to myself again just give it time, you’ll find it. I started off at the left of the oche, I moved over to the right and it all came to plan.
“Gian, what a tournament, he can be very happy with himself, in every set, he was there, he was behind me and I had to take my chances.”
On the prize money, he said: “It’s lifechanging, even for this tournament, for anyone, it’s been doubled, obviously, the winners, the runners up the semi-finalists.
“But it’s life changing, absolutely life changing, but this win has increased the gap to Luke Humphries and I’m clear as World number one.”
When asked what his first purchase will be, he responded: “I don’t know, I can’t change car yet. We’ll have to see.”
