Darts world champion Luke Littler goes on a furious run at Players Championship 32. Meanwhile, numerous German players have to worry about qualifying for the finals.
What a response from Luke Littler! After the darts world champion was eliminated in the first round of Players Championship 31 on Tuesday, he made a furious comeback just one day later in the 32nd edition of the tournament series.
“The Nuke” marched through the field in Wigan with numerous highlights and secured victory with an 8:2 win in the final against surprise finalist Dennie Olde Kalter from the Netherlands.
Luke Littler has qualified for the Players Championship Finals
Darts: Littler secures qualification for Players Championship Finals
With his first title at Players Championship 2025, Littler is also safely qualified for the finals in Minehead in November.
He currently stands in 34th place in the tournament series Order of Merit – the day before, he was still far outside the top 64 who qualified for the final tournament.
German players have to worry
From a German perspective, Martin Schindler is already safely qualified. Many of his compatriots still have to worry before the last two editions of Players Championship (numbers 33 and 34 on October 29 and 30).
Ricardo Pietreczko lost his opening match against Richard Veenstra 2:6 on Wednesday and currently stands in 50th place in the Players Championship rankings.
Even closer to the cut are Gabriel Clemens (57), Dominik Güllich (58), Niko Springer (59), Max Hopp (62) and Lukas Wenig (64).
Hempel shocks Wade, Hopp delivers thriller against Aspinall
Florian Hempel is far back in 89th place, but caused a sensation on Wednesday when he shocked top player James Wade 6:5 in the first round. However, the German lost his next match against Mickey Mansell 1:6.
Meanwhile, Hopp had Nathan Aspinall, who had managed two 9-darters the previous day, on the verge of knockout in his second match of the day – but in the end “The Asp” prevailed in the decider and won 6:5.
Great show from Littler
But it was mainly Littler who provided a whole series of highlights – not just in the final, which he won with an average close to 111.
In the semifinal, the 18-year-old showed a particularly cheeky 97 finish: After a throw at single bull (25), he checked out with two throws into double-18 and then giggled as he shook hands with opponent Stephen Bunting.
In the quarterfinal, Littler showed his strength against Adam Hunt in four consecutive legs. The world champion checked out 130, 120 and 146 in succession before laying down a 10-darter for the temporary 5:3. In the end, he won 6:4 after a 0:3 start.
However, the only 9-darter of the day was reserved for Sweden’s Andreas Harrysson. “Dirty Harry” played the perfect leg in his first match of the day.