Peter Wright reckons Luke Littler could ditch darts as he dismisses his own retirement talk
Peter Wright reckons Luke Littler could decide to ditch darts for a decade. But the two-time World Champion is adamant he’s not ready for walking out on the sport as he dismissed chat of retirement.
Wright is under the radar as his hat-trick bid begins tonight against Wesley Plaiser. On the other hand, Littler is dominating headlines with the 17-year-old chasing a record-breaking success.
The teenage phenomenon is taking the game to new audiences as well as dealing with intense spotlight and scrutiny.Wright reckons Littler’s doing so well at such a young age he could leave the sport for 10 years and still return to triumph.
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Attention around the kid is staggering and Wright said: “Good luck to Luke. You have got to take it while it comes. He could get bored of it within three-four years and go that is it, I have had enough darts, I cannot handle it anymore. He could be stressed out and go and look into another sport maybe. I don’t know.”
Asked if he meant go and return, Wright continued: “Yeah, exactly. Go 10 years into something else, then come back and play darts again.”
Littler is the current face of the game and Wright said: “It’s what the people who want a certain image or certain person, they go for it. It’s like when I go to Australia or New Zealand or places like that, the sponsors, we want that crazy guy with the crazy hair and crazy outfits.
“It’s what the media want. The new Bullseye show, Luke Littler is on it. Not the World No.1 or reigning champion or the guy who has won so many ranking tournaments in the past year and a half [Luke Humphries].
“That’s up to them, who they wanted. They could have picked me for the clown looking, the guy with the crazy hair. But they didn’t.
“I think darts is in a great place at the moment. To be honest, Luke Littler is the one who is pushing that forward, helping us to spread it out.”
Despite a poor year, Wright insists he’s still invested in resurgence with quitting not on his mind. He said: “When I get fed up losing lots or not playing really well, then I will decide to turn around and say I’m calling it a day, that is it. But at the moment, no.
“I still believe I have got the game to upset the Luke Littlers and Luke Humphries and MVG when he plays well. Just look at how well Gary [Anderson] is playing, just a little bit of concentration from him here and there, look at what he produces. If the old guy Gary can do, so can I.
“All it takes is for me to be on a little bit of form and I go straight up those rankings. It’s not a problem.
“It doesn’t matter who I play. If it’s the World No.1, or Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen, whoever. It doesn’t really matter.
“You have to beat the best players in the world to pick up the World Championship trophy. You would rather play them early when they are not quite into the tournament.”
“Enjoy it while you can, that is the main thing. If you don’t, this can be a tough place. I am ready to enjoy it. My darts are going well. Hopefully, I can upset a few of these favourites to show the world I am still here.”
Wright, meanwhile, insists Noa-Lynn van Leuven deserves to be on the Ally Pally stage. She becomes first transgender player to feature in the Worlds today against Kevin Doets and he said: “Whoever wants to play wherever, they should be able to. The ladies play with us. So, why does it matter if a transgender person plays?
“We all have three darts in a hand. And we play the board and that’s it. Whoever hits the winning double, that’s it. I think it’s all equal to be honest.”
