Luke Littler headlines Saturday night’s action at the World Darts Championship (Image: Getty)
Luke Littler’s next match will be a true battle of the generations. The Nuke faces Ian ‘Diamond’ White in the third round on Saturday night.
White, 54, is 37 years senior and was nowhere near a dartboard, let alone the World Championship, at the teenager’s age. Instead, a long-haired White was rocking out at Iron Maiden concerts and zooming around on his motorbike.
“He hasn’t got poll tax [the controversial tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the early 1990s], he hasn’t got bills to pay. Wait until he’s got a kid!” quipped White to Sportsboom ahead of the match, which will headline the night’s action at Alexandra Palace.
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“I don’t think I was playing I had heavy metal on. I had my hair down to here [pointing towards his knees]. I wore ripped jeans. I was off to Donington to watch Iron Maiden. I was out on my motorbikes. No, I wasn’t even playing darts.”
White, who became a professional in the late 90s, says victory over Littler would be one of the biggest victories of his long career. He added: “If I go on and win it, yeah. I wouldn’t say it was the biggest game yet because look at my time playing [Michael] van Gerwen in Holland with their people behind him [and] all booing me. Throwing at double 10, I was cacking it! That was an incredible moment, but you’ll remember these moments when you finish darts.”
White was referring to his memorable victory over Van Gerwen, then at his brilliant best, at the Dutch Masters in 2019, which underlined his ability to cope with the big occasion. Like then, White won’t be the crowd favourite against Littler.
Veteran Ian White is next up for Luke Littler (Image: Getty)
“If I went on to win now, I think everyone out there [at Alexandra Palace] would be booing me, but every darts player would be shaking my hand,” he said.
Like Littler, White has played just one match so far. But while Littler, as a seed, went straight into the second round, White was given a bye after scheduled first round opponent Sandro-Eric Sosing was forced to withdraw on health grounds.
The player from the Philippines has since been diagnosed with GBS Guillain-Barre syndrome, rare neurological disorder. White then defeated European champion Ritchie Edhouse to reach round three.