Luke Littler ‘rusty’ in first match since Ally Pally heroics but 16-year-old still wows adoring crowd with big checkouts

LUKE LITTLER made a ‘rusty’ return to the oche with an appearance far removed from his polished Palace performances.

The 16-year-old began life as a professional on the PDC Tour with a 6-3 win over Hong Kong slinger Man Lok Leung in front of more than 1,000 people at the Bahrain Darts Masters.

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In a shaky first-round display, the Warrington ace – who turns 17 on Sunday – missed lots of double attempts and 17 of his 23 check-out attempts across the nine legs in this invitational event.

And had Leung been more accurate, rather than blowing three of his own eight checkout efforts, this would have likely gone to a decider.

Indeed when he did seal a leg, Littler often looked at the watch on his left arm in mocking fashion as if to say: ‘About time I hit a double.’

Still, the 97.92 average and four 180s was a solid enough start in his first appearance since losing to world No.1 Luke Humphries in the World Darts final at Ally Pally on January 3.

Littler, who recovered from 2-0 down in legs, hit checkouts of 151, 136 and then a 120 to progress.

He said: “I’m just happy to get over the line.

“I’ve always said to myself it takes a leg or two to get into the game. You could see that it did.

“I got the next five legs with two ton-pluses. It always take a leg or two to get into it.

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“Was there a little bit of rust? Yeah. I’ve not had a proper game, a professional game, since the World Championship final.

“I was thinking, I am 2-0 down, whatever happens, happens.

“But I’ll always fight until the end. Once I got a leg or two, I was in.

“A big finish always helps. When you lose the throw and then he breaks you, and you’re 2-0 down, it’s a bit different. I’m glad I got into the game and got over the line.”

It is fair to say that ITV bosses scored an own goal by tucking away this World Series of Darts Opener on the ITVX streaming service.

Had it been on their terrestrial or Freeview channels, then the audience for Littler’s return would have been huge.

Nonetheless, these were more sedate surroundings in the Middle East compared to the raucous 3,100-strong crowds in North London during his epic World Championship run.

The world No.31 said: “It’s crazy seeing so many people. It’s always a good thing that the players have a bit of a crowd to play in front of.

“But it’s totally different to Ally Pally. You can hear everything that is going on. I’m just glad to get over the line.”

Littler, who has been in the eye of a global media storm this past month, now faces practise pal and stable mate Nathan Aspinall today (Friday) in the quarter-finals.

The former schoolboy said: “We practised together before the world championship.

“We both know each other’s game. We bought played set-play. But it’s the first to six legs, straight legs, no breaks.

“It will be good for our management to see us both play. I cannot wait.

“I couldn’t wait to play darts. I didn’t want to practice. I just wanted to play a game.

“That is usually the case. I don’t practice because I want to get on stage and perform.”

World champion Humphries crushed Bahraini Abdulla Saeed 6-0 and now faces Gerwyn Price in the top half of the draw.