STINGING IN THE REIGN!

Littler shrugs-off a wasp and Van Veen to pocket £1m & back-to-back titles

- BY RICHARD LEWIS

HE berated himself when it did not go right.

But when it did, Luke Littler set the emotion free, twisting and punching the air on the oche.

When he says it was not about the money - the million pound cheque which now has his name on it - you could see what he meant as the heat rose and the drama unfolded and the Ally Pally wasp came out to play in an incredible final of the PDC World Darts Championship last night.

Littler is once more the King of the Palace, the teenager who dreamed of this moment and has now lived it, arguably, beyond every expectation.

His 7-1 defeat of Gian van Veen was an epic encounter.

A match which reached extraordinary heights at the start and had Littler ducking for safety as the famous Ally Pally insect buzzed around him in the fifth set.

Littler, 18, was 3-1 up at the stage having found his groove after an uncertain opening, where Van Veen, 23, the new Dutch No.1, had shown what he is all about from the first leg.