Luke Littler is prodigious talent – let’s not burden him with expectation

The 16-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable and heartwarming run through to the PDC World Championship final. But labelling him the Tiger Woods of darts is as daft as it is unfair, writes Jim White. Let’s enjoy the present and not expect him to change the world

Luke Littler, 16, is the youngest to reach the PDC World Championship final (PA)

Darts has never been a game embarrassed by hyperbole. Remember the commentator Sid Waddell’s eulogy about the serial world champion Phil Taylor when he won yet another title?

“If we’d had Phil Taylor at Hastings against the Normans, they’d have gone home,” Waddell suggested.

Or there’s his somewhat overwrought description of another multiple-winner, Eric Bristow. “When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer… Bristow’s only 27.”