Luke Littler slammed for inappropriate comments and his use of the B word
World Champion's words following success of Mike De Decker at Grand Prix didn't impress by ex-pro Van der Voort
Luke Littler has been criticised for inappropriate comments following his recent win over Mike De Decker.
The Nuke dismantled the Belgian and ended his reign as World Grand Prix champion last week as he swept him aside on his way to taking the crown in Leicester.
Littler sealed the routine win with ease and even used the word “boring” when it came to how he felt at times in the contest due to De Decker struggling to find his game.
But, speaking on the Darts Draait Door podcast, Van der Voort took exception to such chat and said: “That’s just a tap on the chin you give someone like De Decker. You don’t have to say that. It’s inappropriate and not very nice.
“At the Grand Slam [last year], Littler actually needed the crowd to beat De Decker. And then to make comments like that about someone who won a tournament just last year, putting him down like that, I don’t like it.
“But at the same time, it adds a bit of spice. Hopefully De Decker will take that personally and go into their next match with fire in his belly.”
He may not have liked the words, but Van der Voort was full of praise for Littler’s magic on the stage as he added: “There’s no shame in De Decker losing heavily to Littler. He’s just unbelievably good right now.”
The World Champion’s success over De Decker came as he stormed into the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix and the comments came straight after the match as he said: “Yeah, obviously very happy with the win,. But Mike didn’t play his best there and I just had to play along. It was a bit boring at times, obviously I expected something from the reigning champion, but he just couldn’t get those doubles to get him going on the scoring most of the time and I just had to do my job.”
Pressed on whether he expected more from De Decker, Littler added: “I think in the first set he missed quite a few doubles and then when we went 2–0 the screen came up as we walked off and it was something like eight out of 42 starting. I was just like: Crazy. But I just had to switch on and get the job done.”
Littler also hit back this week having been criticised in some quarters for playing in the World Youth Championship less than 24 hours after winning the Grand Prix. He lost to Beau Greaves, who is now heading to the Ally Pally for the World Championship as well as playing in the Youth Final at Minehead next month against Gian Van Veen.
Littler spoke out on his participation after winning Players Championship 32 and said: “The likes of Gian, tour card holder, Keane Barry, tour card holder. They were all there, but I’m the one who gets it in the neck. I didn’t win, so a lot of people were happy.”
Littler's busy schedule over the past fortnight has seen him join Luke Humphries, Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen in withdrawing from this weekend's German Darts Championship on the Euro Tour, where Scotland's Peter Wright defends the title he won 12 months ago when defeating The Nuke in the Final.