Luke Littler manages darting feat Michael van Gerwen could not match in Belgium

Defending champion Luke Littler managed a darting feat that Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries couldn’t match during the opening weekend of the Euro Tour

Luke Littler defended his Belgian Darts Open crown while Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen suffered early exits.

Littler wasn’t quite on top form but still managed to knock out Ryan Searle 6-3, with the world champ averaging 94.36 to Searle’s 95.48 at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze.

The Nuke, 18, would then beat Luke Woodhouse, Dave Chisnall and Mike De Decker en route to his first Euro Tour glory of the year.

World No.1 Humphries fell to a 6-4 defeat against local lad De Decker, who’d dodged two match darts to beat Thomas Lovely in the previous round.

De Decker pulled off a 122 out and averaged 100.45 against an off-form Humphries, who only managed an average of 92.61.

De Decker would continue that form on Sunday by beating Martin Schindler and former world champion Gerwyn Price.

The World Grand Prix champion then came back from 6-4 down to edge a 7-6 win over Ross Smith in the semi-finals to book his spot to book his spot in the final in Wieze.

Van Gerwen fared slightly better with his average and even nailed a cracking 136 checkout, but still lost 6-4 to Croatia’s Boris Krcmar, reports the Mirror.

Littler is in a rich vein of form – and added his latest piece of silverware to the UK Open title he won last weekend, which he then followed up with a win on night five of the Premier League on Thursday.

When asked what ambitions he has for the rest of the year, Littler replied: “No idea. I just have to see what comes at me.

“I said after the World Championship, if I don’t win anything throughout the whole year, I’m still a world champion.

“I’m happy to win the UK Open and come back here and go back-to-back; now it’s straight onto the Players Championship events and then back to the Premier League.”