Luke Littler defeated by Northampton darts prodigy, eight

An eight-year-old darts prodigy said beating Luke Littler during an exhibition match capped off “the best weekend ever”.

Noah, from Northampton, scored 90 on his final throws to beat the Premier League Darts champion, 17, on Saturday in front of a huge crowd.

The youngster trains for 16 hours a week and will start throwing arrows for Buckinghamshire County next week.

Asked if his year could get any better having defeated Littler, Noah said: “Not really, no”.

Noah was plucked out of a crowd of “hundreds and hundreds of people” at the Summer Showdown darts exhibition in Cardiff and invited to take on Littler.

He then beat Littler 1-0, despite only starting darts two years ago, aged six.

“It’s been a very, very exciting weekend. It was amazing, absolutely amazing,” said Noah’s mum, Helen.

“It’s been an incredible year, he’s loving every minute of it.”

Littler shot to fame at the end of 2023 after becoming the youngest player ever to reach the final of the PDC World Darts Championship in January.

He was ultimately defeated by Luke Humphries after a tense game.

Helen told BBC Three Counties Radio that Littler gave her son some flights for his darts as a souvenir following their game.

“He was an absolute gentleman, he was so, so lovely,” she added.