The PDC World Championship grand finale is now just a stone’s throw away as talented darts competitors are gearing up for today’s hotly anticipated quarter finals.
Anything is to play for at the moment in the midst of a tournament that has seen shock defeats and heroic victories.
For example, world No 1 Luke Humphries had entered the championship as a favourite to win but crashed out on Sunday after his defeat to two-time winner Peter Wright.
Humphries has now thrown his support behind close friend Stephen Bunting who stormed into the quarter-final after a 4-0 win over Luke Woodhouse.
Meanwhile teen darts sensation and last year’s runner-up Luke Littler is also heavily tipped for success, while fan favourite Michael van Gerwen has also powered through to the latter stages.
Teenage sensation Littler is half the age of some of his fellow competitors, but can you guess exactly how old the men trying to stop him are?
Littler has been giving it everything he has this year after he was the championship runner up in 2024
Luke Littler
Starting with the youngest of the competition, Littler surpassed all expectations when he took part in last year’s tournament.
He was beaten 7-4 by Luke Humphries in last year’s final, but a repeat of their showstopping match up won’t be repeated this time round after Humphries was knocked out of this year’s competition.
Known as ‘Luke the Nuke’, the sensation – now 17-years-old, though 16 at the time – ignored chants of ‘you’ve got school in the morning’ on his way to the final last time round.
The youngster had long being tipped for stardom, after picking up his first set of magnetic darts when he was still in nappies.
Littler revealed he would spend New Year’s Eve ‘chilling’ with his parents and playing on his ‘little Nintendo Switch’, ahead of his World Championship quarter-final today against friend and stablemate, Nathan Aspinall.
The 17-year-old ended his stunning 2024 by winning a seven-set thriller against Ryan Joyce on Monday and admitted that despite having an incredible year, winning ten PDC titles, he misses the ‘freedom’ he played with at the Ally Pally last year, when he reached the final as a 16-year-old.
Michael van Gerwen
Dutchman Michael van Gerwen is currently placed at world number 3 and he has been putting in an impressive performance in the tournament so far
Dutchman Michael van Gerwen is currently placed at world number 3 and has put in a series of impressive performances in the tournament so far.
The outspoken competitor beat Sweden’s Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 on Monday night to set up a last eight tie against England’s Callan Rydz.
Van Gerwen is the highest ranked player left in the tournament, with the third seed setting his sights on a fourth triumph at Ally Pally.
He has won the PDC tournament a total of three times and is generally regarded as one of the greatest darts players of all time.
Before becoming a professional darts player, van Gerwen, now 35, worked as a tiler.
He is known for throwing at a very fast pace and scoring extremely heavily, using his skills to change the course of a tie and overwhelming his opponents in a matter of seconds.
Gerwyn Price
Welshman Gerwyn Price is currently a world No. 10 and he beat rival Johnny Clayton to progress to the quarter final in an all-Welsh clash on Sunday.
Price is 39-years-old and he was formerly a professional rugby union and rugby league player
Price, the 2021 world champion, raced into a 2-0 lead before Clayton – seeded three places higher than him at seven – rebounded with two legs of his own as his rival struggled for doubles.
The sportsman will face Chris Dobey later today.
Price is 39 years old and he was formerly a professional rugby union and rugby league player, before giving up the sport to focus on darts.
Nicknamed ‘The Iceman’, Price, who was born in Cardiff, has won 37 senior PDC titles.
The multi-talented individual is also known to have previously turned his hand to boxing.
Nathan Aspinall
Aspinall was born in Stockport and is currently the World No. 12 – nicknamed ‘The Asp’.
He crushed his German rival Ricardo Pietreczko 4-0 on Monday to follow up his 4-0 mauling of Andrew Gilding in the third round.
Nathan Aspinall was born in Stockport and is currently the World No. 12. – he is nicknamed ‘The Asp’
Following Monday’s win, he told TalkSport: ‘I’ve been criticised on social media about my performances.
‘But I won 4-0, what more do you want from me? I dropped seven legs last game, two then.
‘They don’t print averages or 180s on trophies. I let the main people do that. I just want to win.’
The outspoken 33-year-old is not shy of making his feelings known after branding Pietreczko ‘odd’ in the lead-up to his match with the German.
Stephen Bunting
English darts player Stephen Bunting is nicknamed ‘The Bullet’ and he is ranked at a World No, 8.
A staunch Liverpool fan, he says if he wins the tournament said he would ‘shove the World Darts championship trophy down Man Utd’s throat’.
English darts player Stephen Bunting is nicknamed ‘The Bullet’ and he is ranked at a World No, 8
The Bullet will face Peter Wright for a place in the final four at Ally Pally.
At the age of 39, Bunting has two sons and the ruthless player has said he believes he can ‘go all the way’ and is ‘in the best position to win this tournament’.
This comes after he thrashed Luke Woodhouse 4-0 on Monday night and is the favourite of the also defeated World No 1 Luke Humphries for the title.
Chris Dobey
Chris Dobey wowed spectators as he beat Kevin Doets 4-3 on Monday to secure his place in the last eight of the annual darts tournament.
He has said he is grateful for the support his fans have shown him at Alexandra Palace and he wouldn’t be where he is without them.
The 34-year-old Englishman is nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ and he was born in Bedlington, Northumberland.
The 34-year-old Englishman is nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ and he was born in Bedlington, Northumberland
He is currently World No. 15 and has won five ranking PDC titles.
Dobey will face Gerwyn Price in the quarter finals and speaking ahead of the match, he said: ‘Whatever happens on the day, hopefully I can get my practice routine right and fix them doubles up and start hitting them earlier than what I did yesterday.
‘But yeah I’m looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenge and hopefully I can get a win.’
Peter Wright
Scottish Peter Wright is known for his bright colourful looks and is nicknamed ‘Snakebite’ – which may not come as a surprise given he has the creature painted on his head.
Wright is a two-time world champion having won the championship in 2020 and 2022.
He was born in Livingston, Scotland, to a 16-year-old single mother and has never met his father who was in prison at the time of his birth.
Scottish Peter Wright is known for his bright colourful looks and is nicknamed ‘Snakebite’ – which may not come as a surprise given he has the creature painted on his head
Having shockingly defeated last year’s world champion, Luke Humphries, on Sunday, The Snakebite is hoping to defeat Stephen Bunting who he will face later today.
After his 4-1 triumph, the 54-year-old told Sky Sports: ‘Luckily I wasn’t playing Luke Humphries from last year because he was awesome.
‘I’m a double world champion and I want to win it for a third time. I’m not too old and you only have to play well for two or three weeks the whole year. These three weeks are all that matters and I’m in the quarter-finals.
Callan Rydz
The second youngest competitor in the tournament is 26-year-old Callan Rydz.
Nicknamed ‘The Riot’, Rydz is, like Chris Dobey, also from the town of Bedlington in Northumberland.
It is no wonder as the talent appears to run in their family – with the pair being cousins.
Nicknamed ‘The Riot’, Rydz is, like Chris Dobey, also from the town of Bedlington in Northumberland
He has won three ranking PDC titles and is a two-time PDC World Championship quarter-finalist.
The record-breaking rising star is known for his energy on stage and he was previously a BMX rider before snapping his foot during lockdown.
