PHIL TAYLOR has urged Luke Littler to snub the BBC SPOTY ceremony.
The darts sensation is among the nominees for this year’s heralded award.
RexLuke Littler has been nominated for the SPOTY award[/caption]
PAKeely Hodgkinson is also nominated after her heroics at the Olympics[/caption]
APJoe Root has also received a nomination after his record-breaking year for England[/caption]
GettyPhil Taylor has insisted Littler should avoid the ceremony[/caption]
Littler, 17, has enjoyed an incredible rise at the oche since his run to the final in the PDC World Darts Championship in January.
He has some stiff competition for the award despite being one of the favourites.
England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham is also up for the award.
Other nominees include cricket star Joe Root, Olympic heroes Keely Hodgkinson and Alex Yee, as well as Para-cyclist Sarah Storey.
However, Taylor has claimed that Littler should not attend the awards show, which will take place two days after the PDC World Darts Championship starts at Ally Pally.
The Power told talkSPORT: “I would advise him not to go on it.
“I’ll be honest. Look there’s half a million pound on the table.
“I wouldn’t do anything, you know what I mean.
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“I’d just do a video and say thank you very much if I win and focus.
“But it isn’t just the half a million pound, it’s the publicity you’ll get, which he doesn’t need at the minute, and it’s also your spin-offs.
APJude Bellingham is one of the favourites for the award[/caption]
GettyPara-cyclist Sarah Storey is also in the running[/caption]
Darts World Championship full draw
Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)
Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito
Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz
James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont
Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto
Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt
Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist
Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb
Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan
Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock
Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing
Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas
Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell
Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer
Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong
Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates
Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar
Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven
Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo
Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx
Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin
Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto
Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan
Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry
Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen
Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long
Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee
Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting
Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida
Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers
Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen
Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin
Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac
“So that half a million quid could turn into £2million.”
The 16-time darts world champion has insisted that the first round of the tournament will be “dodgy”, suggesting that Littler needs to be focused.
He added: “The first round for everybody is going to be a dodgy one.
“It always is. Also with the world championships, it’s not just – football will be the same – you know you come into the middle of winter.
“There’s all kinds of bugs flying about and illnesses and flus and whatever.
“Make sure you don’t get laid up. We call it laid up in Stoke.
“Make sure you don’t get any you know, catch any colds or flus or whatever so that can knock you back.”
Meanwhile, Taylor has also suggested that Littler keep his distance from his rivals in order to strengthen his position at the oche.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
1994 – Dennis Priestley
1995 – Phil Taylor
1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
2003 – John Part
2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
2008 – John Part (2)
2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 – Rob Cross
2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 – Peter Wright
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Peter Wright (2)
2023 – Michael Smith
2024 – Luke Humphries
Most World Titles
14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries