Raymond van Barneveld sends message to Luke Littler, 16, after darts sensation dumps legend out of World Championships
HURTING Raymond van Barneveld paid respect to incredible Luke Littler.
That’s by saying: The kid played like a DARTBOT!
Barney, 56, was booted out of the tournament on Saturday evening as he was defeated 4-1 by the teen sensation.
The Dutchman did not exactly play badly – he averaged 101.13 across the five sets of darts.
But he was outgunned by Littler, who put aside his longstanding hero-worship for this seismic success.
The pair, separated by 40 years of age, embraced at the end and Barney said he hoped the Warrington lad, 16, would now go all the way.
The five-time world champion just could not believe the firepower he was having to face from his opponent on the oche.
He said: “I’ll take my hat off for him. Respect. It looked like I was playing against a ‘dartbot’.
“There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. He was hitting everything. I tried my best and I think I wasn’t playing so bad.
“I need some time to recover from this. This was absolutely insane.
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“If he didn’t hit the triple 20 it was the triple 19. At one moment I missed two doubles 16 for a very important 71-finish to win the set. But I missed them.
“But I couldn’t do anything on his legs. He was too good.
“I don’t care at all who wins now because I’m out of the tournament. For me it’s over and it hurts.
“Luke was better and all my respect to him. I wish him all the best for the tournament.”