Luke Littler’s opponent goes viral for comment after being thrashed by darts star | Other | Sport

Darts star Cameron Menzies attracted plenty of attention on social media for his reaction to being outclassed by Luke Littler at the Players Championship. Along with six other competitors on Sunday, Menzies found himself on the losing side against ‘The Nuke’, who excelled on his ProTour debut.

Things were looking ominous for Menzies by the time he and Littler faced off in the last 16 in Wigan. The 17-year-old had already dispatched Jim Williams 6-1, Luke Woodhouse 6-3 and hit a nine-darter against Michele Turetta.

He came within a dart of repeating the feat against Menzies, in what would have been a remarkable achievement, as Littler convincingly came through 6-2. The Scot’s hilarious reaction speaks for itself, as he wrote on X: “Anyone got any vaseline?”

Littler marched on with a win over James Hurrell in the next round, before a tight win over Alan Soutar in the semi-finals and an even tighter triumph over Ryan Searle in the final.

Searle averaged a dizzying 111 but still lost out in the deciding 15th leg, as Littler clinched the £15,000 top prize with an average of 109. The teenager claims his stress levels will benefit from the victory as he eyes up spots at the World Grand Prix and World Matchplay later this season.

“I know my game is there, I know I can beat anyone, and I’m really happy to have won,” he explained. “The Development Tour really helped me. I can throw really well on the floor as well as on the stage.

Littler burst onto the scene by reaching the World Darts Championship final, and the 2007-born prodigy has proven in the weeks since that his time on the big stage is set to continue.

Victory and another nine-darter at the Bahrain Darts Masters has been followed by a solid showing across two weeks of Premier League action, where he has won three matches and lost two against some of the world’s best players.