Luke Littler’s darts final was the most watched non-football match in Sky Sports history.

Luke Littler’s darts final was the most watched non-football match in Sky Sports history.

Luke Littler’s darts final was the most watched non-football match in Sky Sports history.

 

Luke Littler’s World Cup final against Luke Humphries drew a record crowd for Sky Sports on Wednesday night.

World number one Humphries won 7-4 in front of a packed Alexander Palace, but only after his 16-year-old opponent gave him a serious scare. Littler had an outstanding performance on the biggest stage, narrowly missing an arrow in the doubles to lead 5-2 at one stage.

The Warrington teenager captured the nation’s imagination, with Sky reporting his match was watched by more than 3.71 million viewers. This represents a 143% increase on the 2023 final and reached 4.8 million registered viewers on Sky and NOWTV, making it the biggest audience for a single non-football event in the broadcaster’s history.

 

 

Littler came second, securing a life-changing £200,000 and is likely to inspire many spectators to pick up a dart and try the sport for themselves. En route to the final, he should have won over millions of fans by defeating five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld and 2018 champion Rob Cross.

Sky 2.3 million watched his 6-2 semi-final win over Cross, which was the channel’s most-watched darts match before it was pulled out of the water on Wednesday. Previously, Gary Anderson’s 1.65m victory over Phil Taylor in the 2015 final topped the charts.

Littler and Humphreys certainly didn’t let their huge crowd down and put on a great show including 36,180 and an impressive cash draw between the two players. With the men’s Ashes match between England and Australia and the Ryder Cup, the ratings for the final are even more impressive.

 

PDC chairman Eddie Hearn has been delighted with Littler’s new audience and has tweeted his approval in recent weeks. The teenage superstar has 124,000 followers on Twitter and 453,000 on Instagram and is clearly a huge asset to the sport of darts.

His talent and character were summed up after Humphreys took five sets to win. “I’m not saying it because everyone likes it,” he told Sky Sports. “Luke had great talent, not just on the dart board. He was very good at the media he created with it.

“He took the loss well at that point. He said, “Go and celebrate.” You’ll never see a more ordinary 16-year-old than him. He is a different person. I think he will play in the Premier League. It’s fair enough if he doesn’t want to play there, but I think it will be fun to play with him this year because he’s one of the best players in the world. There is no doubt about it.”

Littler is now waiting to hear if he will be included in the Premier League darts squad. “I’d rather be in the top 32 than play in the development tournament,” he said. I’m very happy that I debuted and placed 32nd and 2nd. I made it to the finals, but I might not make it for another 5 or 20 years. “I could say I’m second, but I just want to win.”

James

Not again 😭 in golf community as famous golf players were caught and being sentence to….   recent years, the global pandemic has changed a lot of things, and has me reflecting,” she said.  “It is time to slow down a little, focus more on my personal growth, and spend some time with my family.”  Feng told AFP in Tokyo it had been an honour to represent her country, for potentially the last time.  “We’re representing our own countries and we’re not playing for prize money, we’re playing for honour,” she said at Kasumigaseki Country Club, where she could not repeat her medal heroics of five years earlier, finishing eighth.  “Out of all my achievements, I would say a medal at the Olympics is very special,” said Feng, whose only major win came at the 2012 US PGA Championship.  “Even though I’ve been a major winner, think about it, we have five majors every year, in four years we have 20 chances to win a major.  ‘  “So I would say it’s harder, much harder, to get a medal at the Olympics. It was the most memorable moment of my career.”  Brought up in China’s southern Guangdong province, neighbouring Hong Kong, an 18-year-old Feng became the first Chinese player to earn an LPGA tour card in 2007.  The easy-going Feng went on to be the first Chinese player, man or woman, to win a major and lifted 10 LPGA titles during her 14 active years on the tour.  In 2017, Feng became the only Chinese golfer to date to reach the world No 1 ranking.  During a supremely consistent career, Feng registered 18 top-10 finishes in majors, two of them in 2021 even as she was winding down her playing commitments.

Not again 😭 in golf community as famous golf players were caught and being sentence to…. recent years, the global pandemic has changed a lot of things, and has me reflecting,” she said. “It is time to slow down a little, focus more on my personal growth, and spend some time with my family.” Feng told AFP in Tokyo it had been an honour to represent her country, for potentially the last time. “We’re representing our own countries and we’re not playing for prize money, we’re playing for honour,” she said at Kasumigaseki Country Club, where she could not repeat her medal heroics of five years earlier, finishing eighth. “Out of all my achievements, I would say a medal at the Olympics is very special,” said Feng, whose only major win came at the 2012 US PGA Championship. “Even though I’ve been a major winner, think about it, we have five majors every year, in four years we have 20 chances to win a major. ‘ “So I would say it’s harder, much harder, to get a medal at the Olympics. It was the most memorable moment of my career.” Brought up in China’s southern Guangdong province, neighbouring Hong Kong, an 18-year-old Feng became the first Chinese player to earn an LPGA tour card in 2007. The easy-going Feng went on to be the first Chinese player, man or woman, to win a major and lifted 10 LPGA titles during her 14 active years on the tour. In 2017, Feng became the only Chinese golfer to date to reach the world No 1 ranking. During a supremely consistent career, Feng registered 18 top-10 finishes in majors, two of them in 2021 even as she was winding down her playing commitments.

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