Luke Littler CONFRONTED by his opponent at Belgian Darts Open in fiery exchange and is branded ‘ARROGANT’… before going on to hit a nine-darter and beat Rob Cross in the final
- Luke Littler was angrily confronted by Ricardo Pietreczko in the semi-finals
- Pietreczko, 29, later called Littler “arrogant” in a statement on social media
- Littler then won the final against Rob Cross with a brilliant nine-darter
Luke Littler was confronted by an angry opponent at the Belgian Darts Open on Sunday evening and was labeled ‘arrogant’.
The 17-year-old defeated Ricardo Pietreczko 7-3 in their semi-final before defeating Rob Cross to take his third professional title on his debut on the European Tour.
It’s understood his rise has ruffled some feathers in the darts industry, with Pietreczko – nicknamed ‘Pikachu’ – taking on him after their match.
The German, 29, stormed towards Littler after his defeat and gave the boy from Warrington an earful.
Littler wrote on a darts Facebook group: ‘No idea what I did wrong, no idea what he said. He said something and then don’t do it again.’
Ricardo Pietreczko confronted Luke Littler after losing 7-3 to the teenage darts sensation
He later wrote on Instagram: “So I really appreciated that you can play a game like that at such an age. But I hope the arrogance punishes him’
Littler defeated Rob Cross in the final after hitting a nine-darter to claim his third professional title
The 17-year-old has an inimitable calm that seems blasé to some, and that is perhaps what angered Pietreczko so much.
He had also celebrated enthusiastically after winning the last four legs to beat the Polish opponent.
He admitted he only practiced for 20 minutes before his 6-2 quarter-final win over Jermaine Wattimenta as he watched Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City.
He said, “I only practiced for twenty minutes because I was watching football!
‘Everything went well and when Jermaine put pressure on me, I hit my double.
“If you couldn’t tell, I was trying to slow myself down with the drinking and trying not to go too fast, trying to control myself and that’s what I did.”
Pietreczko later took to Instagram accusing Littler of being arrogant. “So I really appreciated that you can play a game like that at such an age,” he wrote. “But I hope the arrogance punishes him.”
In the second round of the tournament in Weize, Littler was furious when Krzysztof Ratajski drank his water.
A bizarre incident took place when Krzysztof Ratajski drank from the teenager’s bottle when he was 2-1 up in the second round
The 17-year-old shook his head and waved his hand before opening another bottle
With Littler leading 2-1 in the legs, Ratajski drank from the teenager’s bottle of water in an attempt to deter him.
Littler noticed almost immediately and appeared to put the bottle Ratajski was drinking from on the floor before opening a new one.
He shook his head angrily and waved his hand before giving his opponent a confused look.
Ratajski then made it 2-2, but Littler left one more leg to book his place in the third round.
After the match he said: ‘I saw him drinking a little bit of my water. I saw him do it again, so I just put it on the floor.
‘Trying to reach me. If he is honest enough, I’m just happy with the win.’
Littler also made a joke about Ratajski on social media, posting, “0-0 drinks my water? 1-2 drinks my water? hmm… good night, see you all tomorrow,” with a split screen of the incident.