Darts star 'shocked' by Luke Littler reaction as teenager resumes Premier League campaign

Darts star 'shocked' by Luke Littler reaction as teenager resumes Premier League campaign

WATCH NOW: Luke Littler clashes with opponent at Belgian Darts Open

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 21/03/2024

- 16:23

The youngster will continue his journey in the Premier League on Thursday evening

Radek Szaganski insists beating Luke Littler felt no different to him than any other win on the darts tour.

The Polish-Irish bus driver was 'shocked' by the reaction after he defeated the teenager at a Players Championship event in February.


Littler won his first Players Championship tournament in Wigan on February 12, overcoming Ryan Searle in a thrilling final.

But he crashed back down to earth the following day when Szaganski knocked him out of the second tournament in the last-64 stage.

Luke Littler

Radek Szaganski says beating Luke Littler felt no different to any other win

Getty

Littler got his revenge over Szaganski less than 24 hours later, whitewashing him in a Euro Tour Card Holder qualifier at the same venue.

Szaganski went back to his day job as a bus driver in Cork and was surprised by the reaction.

He says Littler is 'the biggest talent ever' but doesn't rank that win above any others.

Szaganski told The Irish Times: "I was actually quite shocked to see the reaction it got.

"People were talking about it, but beating him was exactly the same for me as beating anybody in that room.

"He is the biggest talent ever, I think, but for me it was the same as playing anybody else, you focus on your own game.

"I didn’t feel it would get quite the reaction it did afterwards, to be honest."

Szaganski made his debut appearance at the World Darts Championship last December.

However, he still had to win back his PDC Tour card following a defeat to Raymond van Barneveld.

Szaganski hopes he can push on and qualify for Alexandra Palace again this year.

He added: "After playing in the Ally Pally, almost every day somebody on the bus would say something to me about darts.

"I don’t talk too much about it but after that definitely more people were mentioning it to me.

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Radek Szaganski

Radek Szaganski beat Luke Littler at a Players Championship in February

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"When I lost to Barney and didn’t get to keep the card, mentally I went down a little bit for a short while but then I said, ‘Ah come on, go again.’ That is where you want to be."

Meanwhile, Littler will resume his campaign in the Premier League this evening as the tournament heads to Dublin.

He currently sits third in the table ahead of night eight, without a nightly win to his name.

PDC chief executive Matthew Porter recently said the 17-year-old's schedule is being managed.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler has taken the world of darts by storm in recent months

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Porter told the Love The Darts podcast: "The media demands are high, still getting a lot of requests for high-end content.

"We saw him on The Jonathan Ross Show, he's doing Comic Relief, there are a lot of A-list people that want to speak to Luke which is great for him and great for darts and it's important that is managed properly.

"His manager Martin (Foulds) is excellent, his family are very supportive, we're involved and it's a team effort really just to make sure everything is geared around giving him the optimal opportunity to be the best he can on the oche and just get enough rest and time to himself to be a normal 17-year-old as best he can away from that.

"It's early days, it's hard to think we're only three months into the Luke Littler story but who knows how long it might last?"

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