11 months ago
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LUKE LITTLER and Wayne Mardle had an awkward encounter when reviewing the darts prodigy’s defeat to Luke Humphries.
The 16-year-old shocked the world as he made it to the final of the PDC World Darts Championship on his debut appearance at the competition.
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SSNLittler lost the final to the now world No.1 despite leading 4-2 at one point.
He explained: “The leg before to go on 2 2. I was just 10 points off. I was like ‘What have I got? 4?’.”
“I stopped, slowed everything down and I wired it. It’s all I could have done.
“Then he wins the next three sets.”
But Wardle then harshly said: “It was actually the next five but don’t worry.”
He then softened his opinion and added: “I didn’t mean that, that’s terrible.”
Viewers were not keen on the comments from Mardle as they took to social media.
One fan wrote: “Mardle giving advice to darts players is like Tim Henman dishing it out to Djokovic.”
GettyA second complained: “Wayne Mardle’s being a bit of a k**b here, we all know the turning point for Luke Littler yesterday, today’s probably not the time to bring it up.”
Another added: “Luke has more social sense than any of them pure disrespectful the way they talk to them just because he’s 16.”
Following his defeat to Humphries, Littler is thought to have pocketed £300,000 in prize money from the competition.
He is also expected to make a lot more from brand deals and command fees of up to six figures according to Neil Hopkins, strategy partner at MC Saatchi.
Humphries has predicted that Littler will go on to dominate the sport and that he is already one of the “best in the world”.
Mardle started commentating on darts at the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship.
Before turning to commentary he was a professional player that reached the world championship semi-finals five times.
He also lost in three major finals to Phil Taylor — the 2003 World Matchplay, and the Las Vegas Classic in both 2004 and 2005.
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