Luke Littler is the teenage sensation taking the darts world by storm at the Alexandra Palace in north London.
The Warrington-born player has breezed into the final of the World Darts Championship to become a fan favourite.
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Littler is embracing his new-found fameCredit: Getty
Littler is through to the final, where he will face Scott Williams or Luke Humphries as a path to the Sid Waddell Trophy opens up, and it’s been some journey for the young man.
He was born in January 2007, which means he turns 17 later this month and has already beaten opponents much older and more experienced than himself.
However, Littler was almost certainly born to play darts.
‘The Nuke’ has been playing since he was just 18 months old when he used a magnetic board and listened to Phil Taylor’s walk-on music.
Read more on Luke Littler
He started playing on a smaller board when he was four and a proper board from eight, so despite being so young, most of his life has been spent throwing darts.
And ever since his win over Christian Kist in the first round, Littler has become one of the most talked about sportspeople in the country.
This is his debut at the PDC World Darts Championship, but he looks born to be on that stage and has plenty of youth titles to his name to indicate he will be a force for many years.
He is a three-time JDC World Darts champion and has carried that form and talent onto the main stage at Ally Pally.
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Littler has blown all of his opponents awayCredit: Getty
His post-win meals are now also becoming iconic.
After he beat Kist, Littler celebrated with a kebab, which was followed by another in the second and third rounds.
Having pocketed £35,000 for making the last 16, he spoke exclusively to talkSPORT about what he planned to do with his money.
He said: “All my friends are watching at home, we’ve always said we need to go Blackpool or Alton Towers, so I think they will be looking at me like ‘you’re paying, Luke’ and I’ll be like, ‘yeah, okay!'”
However, he’s now guaranteed a minimum £200,000.
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Littler’s choice of celebration meal has endeared him even more to darts fans
Heartwarming footage shows Luke Littler showing off darts skills as a baby
Although the 16-year-old is up for a laugh, he’s very proud of his achievements and wants to keep the good times rolling.
Speaking to talkSPORT, he added: “I am incredibly proud of myself. I’ve just got off stage and saw my mum and just said the dream continues because it is still on.
“I hadn’t thought about winning [the World Championship]. Now I’ve beat Matt [Campbell], my mum said the dream is still on. So anything can happen.”
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Littler is playing to an extremely good levelCredit: Getty
His rapid rise to stardom has surprised everyone, but perhaps not his old Year 11 schoolmates who predicted he was the most likely to become famous, given his natural talent for darts.
But it isn’t just within the darts world that Littler is gaining attention.
Other sportspeople are sitting up and taking notice, with Arsenal stars Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale both asking for photos with Littler in a London hotel.
Given not many people knew who he was a year ago, to now have England internationals asking him for pictures is quite incredible and shows how ‘The Nuke’ has captured everyone’s hearts and minds.
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His classmates were spot-onCredit: @Luke TheNuke Littler
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Littler is in demandCredit: @Luke TheNuke Littler
Listen to full commentary of the final live on talkSPORT on Wednesday from 7pm
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