Ian White faces Luke Littler in the third round of the PDC World Darts Championship on Saturday night
Luke Littler’s next World Darts Championship match is set to be a clash of generations.
The Nuke will face off against Ian ‘Diamond’ White as he resumes his bid for Alexandra Palace glory tonight (Saturday). At 54, White is 37 years older than the teen sensation and was a long way from the darting world at Littler’s age.
Instead, he attended Iron Maiden concerts and rode his motorbike. Speaking ahead of the third-round clash, White recalled what he was doing at Littler’s age and how his life had changed since then.
He told Sportsboom: “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!
“I don’t think I was playing darts [at Littler’s age]. 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 turned professional in the late 90s, believes that a win over Littler would rank among the biggest victories of his lengthy 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.”
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White was reflecting on his triumph over Van Gerwen at the Dutch Masters in 2019, a victory that underlined his ability to handle high-pressure situations. Just like then, White won’t be the crowd favourite against Littler.
“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 only played one match so far. However, while Littler, being a seed, advanced directly to the second round, White received a bye after his scheduled first-round opponent, Sandro-Eric Sosing, had to withdraw due to health issues.
Sosing, from the Philippines, has since been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. White then triumphed over European champion Ritchie Edhouse to progress to the third round.
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