Luke Littler avoided a pre-tournament practice with the Bullet (Picture: Getty Images)
Luke Littler turned down the chance to practice with Stephen Bunting ahead of the World Darts Championship, preferring to stick to his own routine.
Littler and Bunting meet in the Alexandra Palace semi-finals on Thursday night after the Nuke beat Nathan Aspinall and the Bullet downed Peter Wright on Wednesday evening.
The two are stablemates with darts manufacturer Target and Bunting had talked up the possibility of practicing with the teenage sensation before the biggest event on the calendar.
Speaking to OCHE before the World Championship, Bunting talked up practice sessions with both Luke Humphries and Littler, saying: ‘Me and Luke Humphries touched on it around six months ago.
‘We’ll have two or three sessions before the Worlds definitely and that will put me in good stead, practicing with one of the best players in the world at the minute.
‘Me and Luke Littler have also talked about it, we’re quite close with his team and I really like Luke, he’s brought a different air to the scene of darts at the minute. Everyone is talking about him.’
After his 5-2 win over Wright, Bunting was asked if those practice sessions with the Nuke happened and laughed: ‘No, he didn’t ring me!
Stephen Bunting has had a comfortable run to the semis (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I think Luke is set in his own ways. His dad did speak to me about practice but for one thing or another it just didn’t happen. I’m sure we will practice in the future. It just didn’t happen leading up to this.
‘I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his family, everything he’s done for our sport, he’s elevated it to another level.’
Littler said of the offer to practice with the Bullet: ‘He practiced with Luke [Humphries]. I wouldn’t say I ignored him, but I just wanted to do my own practice at home.’
There was certainly no malice in Littler’s decision, noting that he gets on well with Bunting, just as he does with quarter-final opponent Aspinall.
On his match with the Bullet, he said: ‘Obviously we’re good friends as well, but all that’s in my head now is to just make that second final.’
Littler is living up to his pre-tournament billing (Picture: Getty Images)
Bunting knows he is the underdog heading into his huge semi-final clash with Littler, but says that piles the pressure on his young opponent.
While he is clearly taking that as a positive, he is not sure how much of a bonus it will be given how impressive Littler has been on the sport’s biggest stages so far in his short career.
‘It doesn’t change the mindset but I would say it takes a lot of pressure off,’ Bunting said of facing the tournament favourite.
‘Obviously you can see in some of the games Luke’s played, there’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He’s a massive favourite to win the whole title, so he’s expected to win. Last year he maybe wasn’t expected to win,
but have a really good run, That adds a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
‘But Luke’s been absolutely fantastic. I thought he would have struggled with a lot of the big venues that we play in and he’s took to it like a duck to water, won the Premier League. Absolutely fantastic player.’
Michael van Gerwen has hit impressive form at Ally Pally (Picture: Getty Images)
In the other semi-final on Thursday, Michael van Gerwen takes on Chris Dobey after the Dutchman downed Callan Rydz in a classic and the Englishman beat Gerwyn Price in another entertaining affair.
MVG is favourite to come through that clash as a three-time world champion and with Dobey competing in his first Ally Pally semi.
Van Gerwen was also thoroughly impressive in his win over Rydz, averaging 103.10 compared to the 95.38 Dobey threw against the Iceman.