"I have no idea how I managed it": Darts star Luke Littler stages a stunning comeback after his final opponent missed five match darts

"I’ve no idea how I managed that," the young Englishman said afterwards on Sky Sports, adding: "I won the first leg and had a bit of fun. Then I threw a 180, but Gezzy (Gerwyn Price; Ed.) had the top board, so I’d already waved goodbye [to the fans]."

The Iceman missed a total of five (!) match darts at the double 20, whilst Littler took full advantage of his unexpected opportunity and moved up to second place in the table (16 points) thanks to the five points he won. Jonny Clayton (19) leads the standings, having lost to Luke Humphries at the start of the seventh matchday. Meanwhile, Josh Rock is still waiting for his first point, having suffered a whitewash (0-6) at the hands of Price in the quarter-finals.

The fact that the Welshman collapsed so completely in the final was all the more surprising given how well he’d been playing that day. “That doesn’t happen to Gerwyn Price very often. That’s just the way it is,” explained a bewildered Wayne Mardle. The Sky pundit added: “It’s so unpredictable; it’s such an unpredictable short format, and you can see that Luke enjoyed winning it.”

Meanwhile, World Championship runner-up Gian van Veen had missed the Premier League in Dublin due to kidney stones. The pain had started on Sunday morning and subsequently worsened significantly. “I’ve been in hospital since yesterday morning and hope to be able to return home today or tomorrow,” he wrote on Instagram on Thursday.