If darts Premier League winner Luke Littler and former World Champion Michael Smith were nervous about hand-feeding kangaroos at Symbio Wildlife Sanctuary the day before the 2024 Australian Darts Masters, they weren’t showing it. Photo: Region.
It’s unlikely Luke Littler’s dad thought much of it the first time his son picked up a dart – he was 18 months old, after all.
“It was one of those magnetic sets,” he laughs. In hindsight, perhaps it was prophetic.
Dubbed a “prodigy”, the now 17-year-old Premier League winner who has just this year taken the darts world by storm has landed in Australia – more specifically, the Illawarra.
He’s here, along with newly crowned World Matchplay champion Luke Humphries, for the 2024 Australian Darts Masters – a premier event in the PDC World Series, which returns to Wollongong’s WIN Entertainment Centre tonight (9 August).
Littler, who has broken a number of records, will be making his Australian debut.
“This year has been crazy; I have won a title every month and hopefully I can keep that going,” he says.
“I’d love to have come here for the first time and win it but if not, then to play well.
“What I really want to do is put on a show, not only for myself but the fans. For Aussie fans, it only comes around once a year.”
Last August the event attracted over 5500 attendees, with 97 per cent of ticket sales from outside the region, generating an estimated $1.45 million for the local economy.
Analysis showed a 44 per cent increase in tourism spending and a 9 per cent rise in food retail in the CBD during the event weekend last year compared to surrounding weekends, according to Destination Wollongong major events and special projects manager Jeremy Wilshire.
The social media promotions from last year’s event reached an impressive audience, further enhancing Wollongong’s reputation as a destination for major events.
This year’s field includes World Champion Humphries, who has recently added the World Matchplay title to his accolades and teenage sensation Littler. Other notable participants include Rob Cross, who will seek to replicate his success from last year’s event, Australian number one Damon Heta, and former world champions Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price, and Peter Wright. Dimitri Van den Bergh, Simon Whitlock, Haupai Puha and other top players from the Oceanic region will also compete.
The first round on Friday will feature PDC stars against Oceanic representatives, culminating in finals day on Saturday 10 August.
This year’s event has already seen tremendous success, with Saturday tickets almost all sold out a month in advance and limited availability remaining for Friday’s matches.
Littler says darts – a game of precision – is deceptively challenging.
“People think it looks easy – it’s definitely not. But my form is there, and I am feeling confident,” he says.
Luke “The Nuke” might not always have been on the darts track, but he certainly has no regrets.
“I used to play football, but I always loved darts and I’d sometimes skip football matches to play darts. At the under 13s competition I’d pick up about 50 quid, and I’d be pretty happy with that,” he says.
“One day my dad said, ‘You need to stop playing football, focus on darts’ – and it’s paid off.”
The 2024 Australian Darts Masters takes place tonight (9 August), with the quarter finals, semi finals and final on Saturday (10 August), all at WIN Entertainment Centre.
Loading ...
