LUKE LITTLER has revealed his hand was hurt by a darts fan during one of walk-ons last night in Belfast.
The oche wonderkid claimed his first Premier League night success at the ninth attempt as he impressively beat Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and then Nathan Aspinall in a row in Northern Ireland.
Yet before his semi-final clash with Van Gerwen, there was a brief altercation as he headed towards the stage.
Sky Sports cameras did not show the incident in full but it appears one rowdy punter grabbed on to the 17-year-old as “Greenlight” by US rapper Pitbull was playing in the background.
Security guards intervened to help The Nuke and it is not known if the individual was then thrown out of the SSE Arena.
Momentarily, Littler admits he was shaken up by the situation and had to quickly compose himself during the warm-up throws before taking on the Dutchman, whom he beat 6-3 with a 99.05 average.
Asked exactly what had happened before that last-four encounter, Littler replied: “I don’t know who he was, he pulled my arm. It hurt a little bit.
“That’s why, when I went on stage, I didn’t interact with my music. I heard everyone singing but I just needed to relax.
“As soon as (referee) Charlie said ‘Game On’, I had to relax myself.
“My hand is fine. It worked out well.”
Littler’s maiden triumph – for which he banks £10,000 as a bonus – moved him up second spot in the eight-player table with 18 points.
The Warrington ace is only four points away from leader Humphries and he will look to build on this result next Thursday in his Homecoming appearance in Manchester.
The Man Utd fan has significantly improved his chances of qualifying from the Prem road show for the four-player playoffs in London on Thursday May 23.
He said: “I’m happy to win, it’s my first one. I’m glad to win against a good friend.
“As people may have seen, I have changed my throw, trying to take that extra bit of time and then release the next two.
“Sometimes I rush my darts. I am taking more time before releasing the next dart.
“I have practised more for this and it has paid off. I had a good practice game before coming out with Rob Cross. It got me up for this.
“If you don’t enjoy it, you don’t perform. You won’t play well. Every arena had 5,000-plus fans. I cannot wait for next week in Manchester. It’s close to my home.”
