Luke Littler has played down claims that his next opponent at the World Darts Championship “cheated” in a previous match, offering a calm defence of the player he is set to face after Christmas.
The teenage sensation booked his place in the post-Christmas third round of the PDC World Darts Championship with a composed straight-sets win at Alexandra Palace on Sunday. The 19-year-old followed up his opening-round 3–0 victory over Darius Labanauskas by seeing off Wales’ David Davies by the same scoreline in round two.
Littler will now return to the oche in the afternoon session on December 27 to take on Austria’s Mensur Suljovic, but the build-up to that clash has been dominated by controversy surrounding Suljovic’s previous match.
In the second round, Suljovic recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Joe Cullen 3–1. Afterward, Cullen took to social media to accuse the world No.60 of cheating, criticising his slow, unorthodox throwing routine.
“If that’s darts, I don’t want no part of it,” Cullen wrote on X. “Always liked Mensur away from the board but that was plain for all to see. The old guard will say it’s part of the game, but word it how you will — it’s CHEATING. That’s not darts.”
Littler, however, strongly disagreed with that assessment and defended Suljovic ahead of their meeting.
“It’s not cheating,” Littler said. “That’s just how he plays. He flicks his flight until he feels settled. Joe felt like he slowed it down, but that’s his opinion.
“I didn’t see anything wrong. If he does it longer against me, I just have to wait for him and throw my darts.”
The world No.1 added that he is prepared to adapt if necessary but has no intention of overthinking the situation.
“If he throws slower, I just want to get on with the game,” Littler explained. “If I need to slow my approach down, I will and just try to get into the game as quick as possible.
“I won’t practise throwing slower at home — I just expect the worst. And if it’s not as bad as I think, I’ll be happy.”
Littler also revealed there is no bad blood between the two, sharing that Suljovic contacted him shortly after the draw was made.
“He messaged me on Instagram before the tournament,” Littler said. “Something like, ‘Kind regards, good luck, see you in round three.’ I just said good luck back. So yeah, it’s happened.”
With tensions elsewhere bubbling, Littler appears focused solely on the darts — and unfazed by the noise surrounding his next opponent.
