Thurrock darts prodigy, 13, wants to become professional like Luke Littler

BBC News

10 hours ago

A teenage darts prodigy is taking aim at the professional game after arrowing his way up the youth ranks.George, from East Thurrock in Essex, would use a stall to reach the board when he first started throwing aged four.Now 13 years old, the ambitious youngster joined the Junior Darts Corporation with a dream of following in world champion Luke Littler's footsteps.The youngster's talents would often blow onlookers away, according to his father, Chris.
"They will be like: 'Wow, how does he do that? How does he hit the board? How does he hit treble 20s?," Chris said."George is unreal, it's so great seeing him play darts."
The teenager is known as "Little Pingo" because of his unique style of throwing, acquired due to his smaller height.It caught the eye of former PDC World Championship finalist Kevin Painter, from Billericay, who took George under his wing."He launches it, and it looks like he's not going to hit anything," Painter said."It's not the sort of throw you see very often, it is strange, but he does good scores."Painter, who has been friends with Chris for 20 years, added he had "high hopes" for George and urged him to continue practising.
Chris said it was amazing to watch his son hit a 180 - the highest available score - so frequently, estimating it happened about 20 times a day."He's got the drive, he's got the energy, and he loves the sport," he added.George said he was inspired to get into darts after watching his dad play as a child."I want to become a professional darts player," said the 13-year-old, who believed his ADHD helped him to be hyper-focused when playing."It will take a lot of practice, and I just need to keep going."
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