Luke Littler suffered a shock exit to Andrew Gilding in one of many shocks of the 12 months on the Machineseeker European Championship in Dortmund on Friday.
Littler, 17, was making his European Championship debut, however Gilding dumped out the Premier League champion 6-4 with a 98.92 common, three maximums and 35 per cent checkout success.
Defeat for an out-of-sorts Littler was his third consecutive first-round exit in a ranked TV main.
Gilding surged right into a 3-0 lead, profitable the opening leg with a neat 76 checkout earlier than finishing a 12-darter after which taking out a top quality 79 end.
Littler acquired on the board within the fourth leg and after ‘Goldfinger’ missed two darts to increase his lead, the Warrington ace punished his opponent to shut the hole with a two-dart mixture end on 72.
‘The Nuke’ seemed visibly annoyed after spaying a couple of free darts, however he stayed centered to sink double 10 and make it 3-3 in a dramatic encounter.
Suffolk star Gilding edged forward with an excellent 11-darter and after lacking the bullseye for a 5-3 lead, Littler rescued the leg with a neat 64 checkout on double prime.
Gilding moved one away from a large upset as Littler did not land double 18 for a giant 156 end.
And the 53-year-old quickly accomplished a exceptional victory by cleansing up 47 to succeed in the second spherical the place he’ll play residence favorite Ricardo Pietreczko.
In addition to the remaining three PDC ProTour occasions, Littler will return to motion on the Grand Slam of Darts dwell on Sky Sports activities earlier than he takes half within the Gamers Championship Finals in Minehead.
He’ll then look to go one higher than he did in January by profitable the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace from December 15 till January 3.
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Watch Littler’s nine-darter from all angles as ‘The Nuke’ hit perfection on Premier League Finals night time
2024 Machineseeker European Championship
Friday October 25
First Spherical
Danny Noppert 6-2 Joe Cullen
Jonny Clayton 6-4 Chris Dobey
James Wade 6-3 Rob Cross
Ricardo Pietreczko 6-5 Damon Heta
Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Peter Wright
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Luke Littler
Luke Humphries 6-2 Nathan Aspinall
Josh Rock vs Mike De Decker
What dwell darts is subsequent on Sky Sports activities?
Luke Humphries claimed his maiden Grand Slam of Darts title final 12 months
Reside darts returns to Sky Sports activities with the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton from November 9-17 as Luke Humphries seems to defend his title with Littler and Beau Greaves additionally in motion.
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Humphries nailed this 91 end to defeat Rob Cross 16-8 and win his first Grand Slam of Darts title
Consideration then turns to the flip of the 12 months and the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship, starting on December 15, because the darts calendar continues to offer pleasure all year long – and you’ll get pleasure from the perfect right here dwell on Sky Sports activities.
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