Michael Van Gerwen jokingly put his hands on Luke Littler after failing to lay a glove on his rival at the Czech Darts Open on Sunday.
The 17-year-old darts sensation rewrote the history books twice in the tournament in his second and third round wins over Nathan Aspinall and Damon Heta respectively.
Van Gerwen had a cheeky post for his rival after their quarter-final clashX:@MvG180
In Littler’s 6-1 triumph over Aspinall, he scored a tournament record highest average of 110.43, before smashing it in his 6-3 win against Heta with an average of 116.51.
And he didn’t stop there, demolishing Van Gerwen in the quarter-finals, who himself boasted another impressive average of 112.19.
The Dutchman heaped praise on the teenager after the game, where he posted a snap of him jokingly choking the youngster.
“This is not gonna happen again,” he wrote on X with a laughing face emoji.
“Fantastic game by Luke what a talent. All the best.”
But come the semi-final, Littler’s luck had run out.
World champion Luke Humphries beat him 7-4, with the 29-year-old then easing to an 8-1 win over Kim Huybrechts in the final to clinch the £30,000 prize.
While Littler and Humphries embraced at the end of their clash, Littler appeared to be disappointed he couldn’t secure another tournament title.
Sky Sports commentator Dan Dawson said: “It was a stunningly high quality game.
“The World No.1 has asserted his authority, Littler bows out with a tournament average of over 110.
Littler looked gutted following his defeat to HumphriesX @OfficialPDC
“As you can see he is disgusted he has not completed one of the greatest Euro tour campaigns we’ve ever seen.”
Like Van Gerwen, Humphries was complimentary of the Premier League Darts champion.
He said: “I think I played a solid game. When I played Ritchie Edhouse in my first game I felt good, but I felt like I needed a spark.
“It kind of did happen today. I felt that spark again. I still want to change something, I still know there’s another level in me that can get better.
“Luke was probably one of the fantastic players of the tournament.
“But I knew I could beat him. I’ve done it many times and I believed in myself.
“It’s a nice way to cap off what hasn’t been my best ProTour year.”
