Darts star who got rid of his trophies because of Luke Littler has plan to stop teen
Luke Littler faces an opponent he has not played before on Thursday night.
Peter Wright has joked that the only way to stop Luke Littler in Premier League Darts is to confiscate the teenager’s phone. Wright insists that he needs to concentrate on his own performance when he faces Littler in the quarter-final on night four.
The two-time world champion is one of the few elite players who Littler has not faced since his remarkable rise to prominence at the World Darts Championship. Wright has praised the 17-year-old’s approach to matches and insists he sees his younger self in some of Littler’s performances.
Asked how he can beat Littler, Snakebite quipped: “I’m going to take his phone off him in the backroom so he can’t play games! It’s all about myself, I’m not worried about anyone else at all, but hopefully this old boy can still do it against Luke.
“When I was his age and I went to an exhibition to play one of the old pros, I had the attitude that ‘I’m going to smash you up’. That’s the sort of attitude that Luke has got right now, which is great.
“It will be nice to play him - I’ve seen what he has done to all the other top pros, but he hasn’t played me yet. Having said that, if I play like I did last week in Glasgow he will beat me easily!”
It comes after Wright was inspired to throw away his trophies and darts and start ‘afresh’ after watching Littler and Luke Humphries at Alexandra Palace. The 53-year-old was dumped out of the tournament in a major second-round shock against Jim Williams.
Wright reached the conclusion that a break from the sport at the start of the year had not paid off. “I watched the World Championship after I got knocked out, and Luke Littler and Luke Humphries inspired me with what they did," Wright told the PDC.
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''Especially Luke Humphries with what he’s won over the last four months; it proves what you can do and achieve if you put the hard work in. Luke Littler is the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV! That’s why he has inspired me to get my finger out.
“I have got rid of all my trophies, got rid of all my darts, so I can start afresh. I want new trophies this year. Last year was terrible and the year before that was terrible, but I’m looking forward to playing this year.
“I took time off last year and it didn’t work, we saw that in the Premier League. This year I am hitting everything again. Fingers crossed my mindset is to use one set of darts. If I can manage that all year, I’ll be happy and I will be a big threat to everyone.”