Luke Littler, 16, thrashes Dolan to reach World Darts Championship semi-finals

Teenage star Luke Littler is just two wins away from becoming world darts champion after continuing his amazing Alexandra Palace journey.

The 16-year-old has taken the world championship by storm and became the youngest semi-finalist ever after he beat Brendan Dolan 5-1 in the quarter-final on New Year’s Day.

It was a new year but the same old brilliance from the precocious Littler, who is on the cusp of producing one of the great sporting stories.

A semi-final against 2018 winner Rob Cross is next up before a possible meeting with Michael van Gerwen or Luke Humphries in the final, but he is a genuine contender to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy on Wednesday.

The debutant has already proven he is ready to compete on the biggest stage after taking out the UK Open winner Andrew Gilding and his hero Raymond van Barneveld on his way to the last eight and he maintained that form against Dolan.

The Northern Irishman had beaten former world champions Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson but could not live with Littler, who finished with an average of 101.93 to thrill fans inside Ally Pally.

Dolan took out 101 in the opening leg to break Littler’s throw, but from then on it was one-way traffic. Littler went about his business in his usual manner and eased into a 4-0 lead.

A whitewash was on the cards, but Dolan took out 118 to finally get on the board. It was just a stay of execution, though, as Littler came back to see out a memorable win.