Most World Darts Championship players who have had a close encounter with the sneaky Alexandra Palace wasp have gone on to win their first round matches
Darts stars reckon getting buzzed by the Ally Pally wasp is lucky.
Most players who have had a close encounter with the sneaky stinger go on to win.
Luke Littler got up close and personal with the critter both during and after his first round match against Lithuanian Darius Labanauskas at the World Darts Championship.
The teen sensation – who had to body swerve the pest in a post-match TV interview – revealed it first showed up mid-match.
“I saw it in the second set or halfway through the first, I can’t remember. And then it just disappeared,” he said.
“I was like, ‘yeah, it’s gone’. Then, as soon as the interview comes, it comes back. But I managed to dodge it.”
It did not stop Luke hitting seven maximum 180s and clocking up a 101.54 average in a 3-0 win.
The wasp nestled on Rob Cross’s shoulder during his 3-0 triumph over Cor Dekk.
Nitin Kumar hit it with a dart in his first round match with Richard Veenstra – before claiming a 3-2 victory to become the first Indian player to win a match at the championship.
Former world quarter-finalist Brendan Dolan said he was convinced the wasp was a lucky omen.
“I felt like anybody who had the Ally Pally wasp, they were playing well,” he said.
He said Ross Smith – who was stung three times during the 2023 tournament – lost his good fortune when he swatted the wasp away.
“As soon as he wiped it off all his luck went,” Brendan said.
“I was hoping it would land on me but in another way. I wouldn’t like to get stung by it.”
In 2017, Mensur Suljovic won 3-0 after refusing to kill the critter when it landed on his head, crawled onto his shirt and refused to buzz off during his match against Kevin Painter.
Mensur said: “Everyone was like, ‘go on, kill it’. I would never kill it. Never, never. I wasn’t scared. I just didn’t like it on my neck.
“It has never happened to me before in my long career. It didn’t affect my game. Once it went, I kissed it goodbye. It was my lucky wasp.”
In 2022, Canadian arrows ace David Cameron produced one of the greatest comebacks in the tournament’s history after a wasp started bugging him when 2-0 down in the third set to Richie Edhouse.
He had to call in referee Russ Bray to help dodge the critter – then reeled off six legs in a row to clinch a 3-2 victory.
Afterwards Cameron said the wasp ‘might be lucky’.
The Alexandra Palace – where the final is staged – has been a long-time host to generations of wasps thought to nest in rooftop nooks and crannies.
While the critters usually hibernate in the winter experts say they are drawn out by the bright lights and intense heat generated during tournaments which fool them into thinking it is summer.
They then lap up darts’ fans’ lager, spilled sugary drinks and leftover grub.