Burnley Darts prodigy beats Luke Littler's record
A budding 14-year-old darts player has been tipped for the top after beating World Champion Luke Littler's record by becoming the youngest ever winner of a World Darts Federation (WDF) event. Kaya Baysal, from Burnley, who has been playing for seriously for less than 18 months, lifted the 2025 Budapest Classic Men's at the weekend.The WDF said he was 13 days younger than Littler was when he secured the 2021 Irish Open win. Kaya's coach and manager Keith Brunt said there was nothing stopping him from following in the footsteps of Littler, who became the youngest World Darts Champion in January at the age of 18.
"He has a lot of work to do but who knows," said Mr Brunt.Kaya beat the reigning Budapest Classic champion, 27-year-old Belgian Sybren Gijbels, 5-2 in the final, after overcoming former professional tour player Krzysztof Kciuk 4-1 in the semi-final.He also won two youth titles in Budapest - the Youth Open and the Youth Masters - and got to the semi-finals in the pairs event with his friend and fellow Blackburn Darts Academy player Joseph Westby, 15.
The teenager, whose favourite player is Joe Cullen, has played down making history and his haul of trophies, and said he was back on the practice board. Kaya said: "It was a great experience. I played some good darts against some good players."But the Burnley FC fan added: "I've lots more hard work to do."The WDF secretary-general Nick Rolls said everyone was "blown away" by Kaya's performance in Hungary."He's making rapid progress and his performances in Budapest proved that if you're good enough, you're old enough."He added: "Two of our previous youngest-ever winners were Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler, so Kaya is in excellent company."The youngster is sponsored by Target Darts, which backs some of the world's top players, including Littler.Mr Brunt, 41, who set up the academy in 2017 and manages 14 players, said he believed this was the first of many big titles for Kaya."He's calm and never fazed by who he is playing, has got his head screwed on, and has very supportive parents."
His parents Engin and Samantha Baysal said they were "so proud" of him."He's very chilled about it, and he's just keen to push on," said Mrs Baysal, adding it was Kaya's uncle who got him into darts. She said his walk-on song is a song - Foo Fighters Times Like These - was very special to him as it was his late uncle's favourite song, and a Turf Moor favourite.
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