Raymond van Barneveld might be 40 years older than Luke Littler but it seems that the veteran is learning new tricks from the teenage star. ‘Barney’ will join Littler and co at the Players Championship Finals in Minehead this weekend, taking on Chris Landman in his first round match.
Despite his iconic career, the tournament has not been a happy hunting ground for the five-time world champion.
He’s never gone further than the quarter-finals, and last reached that stage in 2019 just before his short-lived retirement.
But on the eve of the final major PDC event before next month’s World Championships, Van Barneveld, 57, claimed to be copying Littler’s infamous diet in a bid to better his record in Butlins. On his Instagram story, he humorously posted a picture of some junk food.
The collection included Fridge Raiders, a chicken katsu curry, a Boost chocolate bar and Squashies drumstick sweets. He added the caption: “Ready for tomorrow, of you know you know,” while also pointedly tagging Littler in the post.
The comments come off the back of the 17-year-old’s Grand Slam of Darts success in Wolverhampton last week. After hammering Martin Lukeman in the final, Littler’s opponent paid him a backhanded compliment as he referenced his diet.
“He’s absolutely ridiculous,” Lukeman said. “He has a Boost bar, a meal deal and a curry, walks up there and smashes them in like that. I’m stood there like: ‘What?’ And what are those little sweets? He’s eating Squashies at half time.”
Littler did admit Lukeman’s claims were true but was also keen to add context. “It was after the semi-final,” he said. “I didn’t want to go back to the hotel, we stayed. Had chicken katsu curry, had three or four breaks in the final so I had Squashies to keep my energy up.”
The youngster’s diet hit the headlines during his World Championship debut at Ally Pally, where he went on a remarkable run to the final before losing to Luke Humphries. After beating Christian Kist in the first-round match, he later said he celebrated by going for a kebab.
And after knocking out former champion Rob Cross in the semi-finals, he shared a deeper insight into how he’d fuelled up during the tournament. Asked how he’d prepare for his clash with Humphries, he replied: “I will just do what I have been doing.
“In the morning, I will go for my ham-and-cheese omelette. Then for lunch, I will have my pizza. Then I will practice on the board. That’s what I have done every day.”
