DartsNews says the World Grand Prix proved darts can thrive without Luke Littler

[Compiled Wolf]

DartsNews has published an editors' review of the World Grand Prix, arguing that the tournament proved the PDC can produce compelling majors even when Luke Littler goes out early. Littler lost in the first round to Luke Woodhouse, and Michael van Gerwen also went out in round one. Yet the week still produced a thrilling final, with Humphries beating Price 6-4 for his first major in more than 18 months. Nathan Aspinall and James Wade reached the semi-finals

Samuel Gill criticised coverage that treated Littler's defeat as a historic upset. "Woodhouse winning... should never even be in the same realm as Andy Callaby or Adrian Gray against Phil Taylor," he wrote. His point is that Woodhouse is a strong professional, and losing to him in a short double start match is not a shock on the scale of Taylor's famous early exits. Treating every Littler loss as a sensation does a disservice to the rest of the field

Several international editors described the week as "refreshing". Nicolas Gayer said it produced a real battle for a major title, where "the winner had not already felt like a foregone conclusion." Littler has dominated so much of the last two years that many tournaments have felt like a question of who might stop him. Without him in the later rounds, the field opened up

The piece credits the double in, double out format with producing upsets and surprise runs. It helped Ryan Joyce reach the quarter-finals and earn 35,000 pounds, for example. The World Grand Prix has always been the odd one out on the calendar, and this year it delivered exactly the kind of unpredictable week that makes it special

Is darts too dependent on Luke Littler? And was this year's World Grand Prix better because he went out early?

World Grand Prix proves darts can thrive without Luke Littler despite dose of blind ignorance as Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price lead 'refreshing' week in Leicesterdartsnews.com