Michael Smith has insisted Luke Littler has develop into “even bigger than Phil Taylor” on this planet of darts.
The 2023 PDC world champion defeated the 17-year-old 6-5 within the semi-final of the Premier League on Thursday (February 1) in what was {the teenager}’s debut within the competitors that noticed thrash world primary Luke Humphries 6-2 earlier that evening.
Bully Boy ended because the victor of evening one after besting hometown hero Gerwyn Price 6-2 within the remaining that noticed him declare 5 factors as he leads the desk.
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Following his evening of triumph, Smith, 33, sounded off on the huge assist Littler had on the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff as he jokingly mentioned: “I actually thought in the semi-final Luke Littler was Welsh” earlier than including: “It’s going to be every week, it doesn’t matter where it is”.
The Warrington wonderkid has taken the game by storm for the reason that World Championship late final 12 months and the previous world champion had a powerful tackle the sheer reputation of {the teenager}.
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“Everyone’s fallen in love with him,” Smith mentioned. “He’s even bigger than Phil Taylor who won 16 world titles, Luke is the most popular thing in darts. I’m going to ride the wave. People keep following, sponsors keep coming in, and the prize money is going up for us lads.”
Smith spoke concerning the distinction in consideration that he acquired in comparison with Littler as he mentioned: “When I walked in this afternoon there were no interviews. Luke Littler walked in and it was ‘can you do this one, can you do that one?’. That was me last year. This time I got to sit and chill, break up my time on the board and it worked.”
(Image: PA)
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Smith was one of some gamers compelled to endure the unsportsmanlike whistling throughout his 6-5 victory over Michael van Gerwen as he sounded off on the Cardiff crowd. “I enjoyed the crowd apart from one or two individuals,” he admitted.
“I’m not going to say the crowd was disgusting because it was only two or three people, the other three or four thousand were amazing.”