Can YOU guess the ages of these dart players? Meet the contenders who have taken the PDC World Championship by storm – including teenage sensation Luke Littler, a former rugby player and a Dutch fan favourite

The grand final of the PDC World Championship is now just a stone’s throw away as talented darts players prepare for today’s highly anticipated quarter-finals.

There is everything to play for right now, in the middle of a tournament that has seen shocking victories and heroic defeats.

For example, world number 1 Luke Humphries had started the championship as favorite but crashed out on Sunday after his defeat to two-time winner Peter Wright.

Humphries has now thrown his support behind good friend Stephen Bunting, who reached the quarter-finals after a 4-0 win over Luke Woodhouse.

Meanwhile, teenage darts sensation and last year’s runner-up Luke Littler is also heavily tipped for success, while fan favorite Michael van Gerwen has also progressed to the final stages.

Teen 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?

Lucas Kleiner

Starting as the youngest in the competition, Littler exceeded all expectations when he competed in last year’s tournament.

He was defeated 7-4 by Luke Humphries in the final last year, but a repeat of their spectacular clash will not be repeated this time after Humphries were knocked out of this year’s competition.

Known as ‘Luke the Nuke’, the sensation – now 17 years old but 16 then – ignored the chants of ‘you have school tomorrow morning’ on the way to the final last time.

The boy has long been tipped for stardom after picking up his first set of magnetic darts while still in diapers.

Littler revealed he would spend New Year’s Eve ‘chilling’ with his parents and playing his ‘little Nintendo Switch’ ahead of his World Championship quarter-final today against friend and stablemate Nathan Aspinall.

The 17-year-old capped off his stunning 2024 by winning a seven-set thriller against Ryan Joyce on Monday and admitted that despite an incredible year that saw him win ten PDC titles, he misses the ‘freedom’ he played with at the Ally Pally final. year, when he reached the final as a 16-year-old.

Michael van Gerwen

Dutchman Michael van Gerwen is currently ranked third in the world and has put in an impressive performance in the tournament so far.

The outspoken competitor defeated Swede Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2 on Monday evening and set up a last eight draw 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 win at Ally Pally.

He has won the PDC tournament a total of three times and is widely regarded as one of the greatest darts players of all time.

Before Van Gerwen, now 35, became a professional darts player, he worked as a tiler.

He is known for throwing at a very fast pace and hitting extremely hard, meaning he can build momentum against his opponents in a matter of seconds.

Gerwyn Price

Welshman Gerwyn Price is currently world number 10 and he defeated rival Johnny Clayton to advance to the quarter-finals in an all-Welsh clash on Sunday.

Price, the 2021 world champion, raced into a 2-0 lead before Clayton – seeded three places higher than him in seven – recovered with two legs of his own as his rival struggled for the doubles.

The sportsman will face Chris Dobey later today.

Price is 39 years old and was previously a professional rugby union and rugby league player.

Nicknamed ‘The Iceman’, Cardiff-born Price has won 37 senior PDC titles.

The multi-talented individual is also known to have turned his hand to boxing before.

Nathan Aspinall

Aspinall was born in Stockport and is currently ranked number 12 in the world – nicknamed ‘The Asp’.

He crushed his German rival Ricardo Pietreczko 4-0 on Monday, following his earlier 4-0 mauling of Andrew Gilding in the third round.

After Monday’s win, he told TalkSport: ‘I have been criticized on social media for my performance.

‘But I won 4-0, what more do you want from me? The previous match I dropped seven legs, then two.

“They don’t print averages or 180s on trophies. I let the most important people do that. I just want to win.’

It comes as the 33-year-old previously caused intrigue when he branded Pietreczko ‘strange’ at a post-match press conference after beating Gilding.

Stefan Bunting

English darts player Stephen Bunting is nicknamed ‘The Bullet’ and is ranked number 8 in the world.

He has said that his next step if PDC win would be to ‘shove the World Darts Championship trophy down Man Utd’s throats’ if he wins, as a keen Liverpool FC supporter.

The Bullet will take on Peter Wright for a place in the last four at Ally Pally.

At 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 defeated Luke Woodhouse 4-0 on Monday night and is the favorite against also defeated world number 1 Luke Humphries for the title.

Chris Dobey

Chris Dobey previously surprised the spectators when he defeated Kevin Doets 4-3 on Monday to secure his place in the last eight of the annual darts tournament.

He has said that he is grateful for the support his fans have given him at Alexandra Palace and that without them he would not be where he is today.

The 34-year-old Englishman is nicknamed ‘Hollywood’ and was born in Bedlington, Northumberland.

He is currently number 15 in the world and has won five PDC titles.

Dobey will face Gerwyn Price in the quarter-finals and ahead of the match he said: ‘Whatever happens that day, hopefully I can get my practice routine right and improve on the doubles and start hitting them earlier than what I did yesterday.

“But yeah, I’m looking forward to it, I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully I can win.”

Peter Wright

Scotsman Peter Wright is known for his brightly colored appearance and is nicknamed ‘Snakebite’ – which may not come as a surprise considering he painted the creature on his head.

Wright is a two-time world champion, winning the championship in 2020 and 2022.

He was born in Livingston, Scotland, to a 16-year-old single mother and never met his father, who was in prison at the time of his birth.

After shockingly beating last year’s world champion Luke Humphries on Sunday, The Snakebite will be hoping to defeat Stephen Bunting, who he will face later today.

After his 4-1 win, the 54-year-old told Sky Sports: ‘Luckily I didn’t play against last year’s Luke Humphries because he was great.

‘I am a two-time world champion and I want to win it for the third time. I’m not too old and you only have to play well for two or three weeks all year. These three weeks are all that matter and I am in the quarter finals.

Callan Rydz

The second youngest participant in the tournament is 26-year-old Callan Rydz.

Rydz, nicknamed ‘The Riot’, like Chris Dobey, is also from the Northumberland town of Bedlington.

It’s no surprise as the talent seems to run in the family as the pair are cousins.

He has won three 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 was previously a BMX rider before breaking his foot during lockdown.