Luke Littler‘s beautician girlfriend Faith Millar has been cheering him on at the World Championship – with the 18-year-old world champion starting his defence of his crown – and wished him good luck ahead of his first game with a kiss.
Littler, 18, played his first game of this year’s tournament at Alexandra Palace on Thursday night, taking on Darius Labanauskas in the third match of the evening in the first round.
The youngster, who is looking to pocket £1million by winning this year’s competition, has regularly been cheered on by his parents, Anthony and Lisa, during competitions and it was no different on Thursday.
Recently, though, Millar, who is a year older than Littler, has also been by his side, and was seen in hospitality at the Palace as Littler played.
‘I don’t think I will beat Phil Taylor’s record,’ he said before the game. ‘I don’t think anyone will.’ Well, keep this up, and he just might.
No one has had an impact on darts like Littler this early in their career. A world final at 16, world champion at 17. Again at 18? It really is hard to look past him.
Luke Littler shared a kiss with beautician girlfriend Faith Millar before he started his World Championship defence
The duo locked lips as Littler completed his walk-on for his first match this year
Faith, who went public with Littler earlier this year, was alongside his dad Anthony (centre) and mum (front right)
The Nuke breezed into the second round on opening night at Alexandra Palace, beating Labanauskas in straight sets with an average just short of 102.
He will only get better, too. ‘I know I can beat some players as soon as I get on the stage,’ he said. ‘I won’t name them.’
It’s unlikely that Labanauskas, the Lithuanian who is ranked 95 in the world, is on that list, but he was no competition for Littler here.
It wasn’t as straightforward as The Nuke would have wanted. He was at times tested – Labanauskas taking out 130 in the game and averaging north of 95 himself – but a healthy showing with a 64 per cent success rate on the doubles did the job.
He said after the game, while trying to dodge the famous Ally Pally wasp: ‘It wasn’t easy and looking at he stats it didn’t feel like that. There are a bit of nerves, but when you win a leg or two, it settles down.’
Littler confirmed his relationship with Millar in July after months of insisting they were merely friends. He had kissed the beautician during World Matchplay event in Blackpool, where the world champion triumphed to become the youngest player to complete dart’s prestigious Triple Crown.
Millar has since joined Littler in travelling to the Australian Darts Masters, with ‘The Nuke’ also emerging triumphant in Wollongong.
Littler, speaking on DartsStream Live, opened up about his relationship with Millar. He admitted that it had initially been ‘tough’ with people trolling their relationship online, but insisted those making comments were jealous.
Littler breezed into the second round with a 3-0 win over Darius Labanauskas on the opening night
‘Yeah, it’s been tough,’ he said. ‘Obviously, at the start of last year, I was always looking at the comments. And she’s been having a look [at the] negativity.
‘But I just said, “They’re jealous. They wanna ruin us.” But I just said, “Just don’t look at it and just focus on what we’ve got”‘.
Littler also added that Millar presence Down Under was what he needed with his parents not making the long trip. ‘She’s a lovely lady, Faith,’ he said. ‘I think it’s sort of what I needed. I knew my mum and dad weren’t going to come.
‘And as soon as I asked the question, she was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance.” So I said, ‘You can come with me.'”
The pair were first pictured together in May when Littler shared a photo of them together to his 1.9million followers on Instagram.
Earlier in the night, the tournament saw an upset in the very first game as Arno Merk, ranked 163, beat former Premier League star Kim Huybrechts The German, who took a decade off from playing the game after starring as a youngster, put on a confident display to win 3-1.
Former world champion Michael Smith then had to fight off a challenge from Women’s Matchplay champion Lisa Ashton, who missed a dart to win the first set. One of five women playing in the Worlds, she fell short by three legs to zero.