{"id":345378,"date":"2025-12-13T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T00:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345378\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T00:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T00:03:14","slug":"luke-littler-explains-decision-to-snub-bbc-ahead-of-spoty-award-they-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/345378\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Littler explains decision to snub BBC ahead of SPOTY award: ‘They know’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke Littler has confirmed he won’t be heading to next week’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, choosing instead to keep his eyes firmly on the prize at Alexandra Palace.<\/p>\n

The teenage darts sensation, who kicked off his World Championship defence with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Darius Labanauskas on Thursday, is chasing the first \u00a31million jackpot in the sport’s history.<\/p>\n

“No, I’m not going to it,” Littler said. “I think they know.”<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old’s second-round match falls just 48 hours after the awards gala at MediaCity in Salford on December 18, making his decision to stay focused entirely understandable.<\/p>\n

\"Luke<\/p>\n

Luke Littler will snub the SPOTY ceremony this year and named his winner<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

Littler reckons Formula One world champion Lando Norris will take home the trophy, and the bookmakers seem to agree with his assessment.<\/p>\n

“I think obviously the people in the top three on the betting odds will obviously go there,” he explained. “I think Lando will win.”<\/p>\n

The darts prodigy currently sits fourth in the betting at 14-1, behind Ryder Cup hero Rory McIlroy, Norris, and Lionesses star Chloe Kelly.<\/p>\n

He’s up against a stellar field that also includes England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and rugby union World Cup winner Ellie Kildunne.<\/p>\n

“Good luck to whoever’s going to win it,” Littler added.<\/p>\n

\"Luke<\/p>\n

Luke Littler beat Michael van Gerwen in January this year to become world champion<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

It’s been quite the year for the Warrington wonderkid, who burst onto the scene in January by becoming the youngest ever world champion.<\/p>\n

He’s since added five more major TV titles to his collection and climbed to become the sport’s youngest world number one.<\/p>\n

Last year, Littler finished runner-up to Olympic 800 metres gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson in the public vote for the 2024 award.<\/p>\n

“I think I’ve only missed out on four majors this year,” he reflected. “So if I’d won them, do I win it? Who knows.”<\/p>\n

He’s not the first star to skip the ceremony either \u2013 Jude Bellingham didn’t attend last year.<\/p>\n

The 72nd annual awards night will be presented by Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott, but Littler plans to spend the evening on the sofa instead.<\/p>\n

His second-round opponent will be either Belgium’s Mario Vandenbogaerde or Welshman David Davies, with that crucial match coming just two days after the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The teenager has also been shortlisted for the Young Sports Personality of the Year award, where he’s nominated alongside England footballer Michelle Agyemang and Warwickshire cricketer Davina Perrin, both aged 19.<\/p>\n

For now though, Littler’s heading home to practise before taking in Manchester United’s clash with Bournemouth on Monday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Littler has confirmed he won’t be heading to next week’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[172643,1500,1079,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-345378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-darts","9":"tag-sgg","10":"tag-sport","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}