Ahead of the Darts European Championship, statements by Luke Littler and Martin Schindler about each other made headlines. The Englishman responded to the topic in Dortmund.
Darts world champion Luke Littler was asked about the minor spat with Martin Schindler after his opening victory at the European Championship against Raymond van Barneveld.
The 18-year-old reported that he hadn’t initially noticed the German’s statements but had been made aware of them. “Some said it was a compliment. Maybe I was wrong, maybe not,” Littler explained at the press conference.
Luke Littler advances to the 2nd round of the Darts European Championship
Schindler interview triggered the spat
Schindler had given an interview to the portal DartsNews last weekend after his victory against William O’Connor at the German Darts Championship, in which he incidentally mentioned Littler.
“He was relentless, he was very strong in scoring with 180s and 140s,” Schindler had said about the Irishman O’Connor: “But then he missed a few chances and I knew he wouldn’t maintain that level – not even Luke Littler can do that – and he didn’t.”
“Why does he mention me?”
The world champion responded to these statements promptly and somewhat sarcastically, saying in his Instagram story: “I’m living rent-free in his head.”
With some distance, Littler explained on Friday evening: “I just posted something. When he said that even I couldn’t maintain such scoring, I thought: ‘Why does he mention me?'”
Littler expected the worst
The 18-year-old admitted that he’s “always on social media” but explained that he tries not to be influenced by criticism. “I don’t tend to really contradict people, but when I do, I do it,” he said laughing.
Due to recent headlines, the Englishman had expected that the audience in Dortmund would receive him with resentment – especially since Littler has had several bad experiences with German audiences in the past. But it turned out differently.
“I expected the worst, but it wasn’t that bad at all,” he said smiling and added: “I took it calmly.”