Darts world championships: Luke Littler has competition from Yorkshire bricklayer
Fans will sink more than 500,000 pints of beer during this year’s PDC World Darts Championship, which begins today, but on stage it’s Champagne’s time to sparkle.
That’s the nickname of 20-year-old Yorkshireman Charlie Manby who will toe the oche at Alexandra Palace, in north London, for the first time when he faces 26th seed Cameron Menzies on Monday afternoon.
Manby, who lives midway between Huddersfield and Wakefield, is one of the sport’s rising stars.
Ranked 166 by the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation), he qualified for his first shot at world glory through a fourth-placed finish on the organisation’s Development Tour. His 130 average during one match this year is a record for any PDC event.
“All the hard work paid off and I’ve had results go my way this year,” Manby told The Yorkshire Post. “It’s exciting times, really. As a darts player, when you get to a certain level it’s everyone’s dream to get up on that stage and play a game. I am privileged to be able to go there and give it a go.”
Opening opponent Menzies has twice reached the quarter-finals of major PDC events and Manby noted: “Cameron is a good player on his day, but at the same time, so am I. If I play my game I know I’ll give him a good go.
“Sometimes in the past I have got caught up more in what other people are doing than thinking about what I am doing myself, but as long as I can put that to one side and get on with my game, I think I’ll do all right.”
A run in the tournament would be a boost to his confidence ahead of Q School in January and Manby’s attempt to win a coveted tour card, guaranteeing entry to the PDC’s top events for the next two years.
He added: “I’m not going to say I need a tour card at this point in time. I want one, but this is my first year of doing everything: I was at Q School in January, got to play the Challenge Tour, the Development Tour again and the Modus. If I have another year of doing all that, so be it, I think it’ll only do me well.
“This year doing that has shown me where I am at as a player. I can compete with the best, I have shown that and it has given me a good guide of where I actually am in the game.
“I like setting little goals for myself and year-in, year-out keep progressing. I think the hardest part for me is getting on the tour, because it is tough going through Q School. I want to get there for a start, then just stay there.”
Even more than most other sports, progress in darts depends on practice. Manby, a bricklayer by trade, admits to “a bit of natural talent”, but stresses: “I worked hard to get where I am now.
“I practice when I can, there’s certain nights of the week when a big group of us go out and have a good chuck for three-four hours. In this game you get out what you put in so you’ve got to put a lot of work in to see results and I think I have this year.”
The rewards are certainly worthwhile, with a record £5m world championship prize pot, including £1m for the winner. The 128-player field, headed by 18-year-old defending champion Luke Littler, is the biggest-ever and Manby, who has been playing competitively since he was 11 or 12, reckons the sport is still nowhere near its peak.
“The standard now is unbelievable, but in the next five-10 years when all these young ones are coming through, who are 13, 14, 15 now, it is going to be even more scary,” he predicted. “What [Littler] has done for the game is unbelievable. He has pushed it forward, all the young ones coming through aspire to be him and so many more kids are getting into darts.”
Ahead of Manby on the Development Tour standings was Doncaster’s Beau Greaves, at just 21 already darts’ greatest-ever female player. She faces number 22 seed – and two-time quarter-finalist – Daryl Gurney a week tomorrow (Friday, December 19).
Bradford’s Joe Cullen, seeded 32, begins his campaign on Sunday afternoon, against Bradley Brooks.