World Darts Championship: Wayne Mardle says it’s up to players to rise and ‘get stuck into Luke Littler’ | Darts News

Wayne Mardle says it is up to players to rise to the challenge and get “stuck into Luke Littler” after ‘The Nuke’ cemented his position as one of the greats of the sport.

Littler overcame the Ally Pally wasp to thrash Gian van Veen and win back-to-back World Championship titles on Saturday night.

The 18-year-old joins Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson in winning successive crowns and he is the new king of Alexandra Palace.

Littler burst onto the scene with an epic debut run to the final two years ago and has not lost on that stage since after a masterful 7-1 win over Van Veen, which earned him a record £1m prize cheque.

With an average of almost 106, 15 maximums and a ‘Big Fish’ 170 checkout, this was one of the great final performances.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Mardle said: “Luke Littler has proven time and time again that he can play better for longer than anyone and that’s what it is.

“Thirty-one legs were played, he won 23 of them. It was the limited chances that he gave Van Veen.

“We think he will win more and more.

“There’s nothing he can’t do on a dartboard but we are getting to the point where it’s about Luke.

“Like when Phil Taylor played well, he won. When Michael van Gerwen played well, he won. It’s about Luke Littler at the moment.

“The format doesn’t matter. He’s just the best. Look at how many headstarts he gave everyone at the World Matchplay. He’s the most reliable and if there’s a long format event like this, good luck with that.

“Luke just keeps setting himself new challenges. It’s up to the other players to get better, but it’s some standard.

“We have some quality players right now but they have to rise and get stuck into Luke Littler.”

Has Littler peaked too early?

The darting phenom underlined his status as a generational talent in the sport.

He has been a tour de force over the last year, winning five of the last six major tournaments, and looks set for an era-defining period of domination similar to what ‘The Power’ Taylor enjoyed.

“When Adrian Lewis won back to back in 2011 and 2012 you think he’s going to win another three, four, five. You don’t know when the end is coming. You don’t know when all this stops,” said Mardle.

“Phil Taylor won his last world championship in 2013. He was still world No 2 in 2016.

“This is the thing about professional sport. He may have peaked – I don’t think so! Look at Gary Anderson in 2015 and 2016 – ‘Oh Gary, you’re not going to win another one!’.

“You look at Raymond van Barneveld in 2007. ‘Ray, you’re not going to win any more pal!’ – ‘Of course I am’.

“You just never know, which is why this is so special.

“I think this is what Luke Littler does. All the standards he produces are similar. He normally averages 103, 104, 105 for events.

“Of course the odd game creeps in with the odd 97 or 98 but then the odd 110 does to counterbalance that. This is his standard and people have to improve. I don’t see him regressing.”

Van Veen is achieving so much already!

Van Veen was disappointed he was unable to give Littler a real game but former Lakeside champion Mark Webster believes “this is just the start” for the new Dutch No 1.

“He will be disappointed but he’s played some good stuff,” said Webster.

“He hadn’t won a game at Alexandra Palace in his previous two attempts here and now got to the final.

“He’s achieving so much. He will be playing a lot more darts this year so there are different challenges for him because you have to manage the schedule because he’s a hungry player and will relish it.”

Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday from February until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.