Luke Littler has had a bad experience of playing darts tournaments in Germany after being booed by the crowd on a number of occasions and threatened not to return to the country
Darts world champion Luke Littler will end his boycott of German tournaments by appearing at the German Darts Championship in October.
The 18-year-old had threatened not to play events in the country after being jeered by the crowd during a number of recent competitions, including a defeat to Gian van Geen in the Munich Grand Prix semi-finals back in April.
At the time, the teenager wrote on social media: « Shouldn’t have been in Munich but had to play anyway. Next one in Germany for me is Dortmund [in October] and I am glad to say that. »
He later returned to the country for the Darts World Cup two months later, appearing alongside rival Luke Humphries – and there were more fears he wouldn’t return to Germany after more abuse came his way from fans.
But Littler will head back to the country next month for the German Darts Championship, which will take place in Heidenheim, offering a prize fund of £175,000.
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Littler will play alongside the likes of Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Stephen Bunting in the three-day event. It will be his first time in Germany since he and Humphries lost 8-4 to German duo Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko in the last-16 of the World Cup.
Littler admitted that day led to a « head loss moment » after receiving more stick from fans while he was on stage. He was also booed in Berlin during a Premier League Darts night and believes German fans have an agenda against him.
“I had a little head loss moment, I don’t get it and can’t explain it, » he said after his World Cup exit. « Obviously you do your walk-on but then as soon as I got on stage, I started getting booed.
« I got booed in Hildesheim last year, I was flying and they started booing and I lost. Obviously, the Germans mustn’t like us English.”
His partner Humphries also noticed the tension from Littler and claimed the youngster « didn’t enjoy it » amid the hostile atmosphere from the crowd.
« It was gutting to see so many English fans happy to see us lose, » Humphries said. « The Germans would never do that to their players. It was incredibly tough, especially for Luke. I could tell by his face he didn’t enjoy it. I kind of relished it, but he’s still young to that. It seems to have carried on more than I expected.
When asked if the two would team up again at next year’s World Cup, he replied: « You’d have to ask him. I think it’s so prestigious that he will. Whether he goes back for Euro Tours? That’s not for me to answer.
« I’m sure he’ll answer that for you, but that wasn’t a nice environment for him. I don’t think he enjoyed it. He deserves some slack — he’s done nothing wrong. He’s a great pioneer for the sport. We should celebrate him, not whistle at him. »
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