Luke Littler's remarkable rise from crying over £500 win to incredible career earnings

Teenage darts star Luke Littler has amassed an impressive £250,000 in prize money already this year. Quite a step up from his previous best win of £500 which, at the age of 12, made him cry.

Littler's climb to stardom began with reaching the finals of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace, where despite losing to Luke Humphries, he took home £200,000. That was just one highlight.

Dispatching Michael van Gerwen in the Bahrain Masters final and making it to the Dutch Masters final cemented his standing in the sport. The gifted player nabbed the Players Championship 1 event and climbed to 30th place in the PDC Order of Merit. Two perfect nine-dart check-outs were among his exceptional achievements.

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Littler's journey to success is paved with dedication and effort. He was hitting a proper dart board at just four years old, winning his first adult contest at 12, a feat that brought tears to his eyes. When The Times questioned whether the glory of his first win had made him cry, he explained: "No. Because of the 500 quid. When I first joined a team, I was the youngest there, playing against men. But that became me, week in, week out.

"Widnes was one of the big competitions - 500 quid for the winner. All the others were £150, £160, but that was the big one and they got all these entries. Everyone wanted in. All men. They don't like being beaten by a kid. Yeah [it annoyed them]. But that's OK. They shouldn't have to change their behaviour for me. And darts came from the pubs."

A self-confessed Manchester United supporter, Littler's