The World Darts Championship is drawing ever nearer as the best players from across the globe prepare to descend on Alexandra Palace.
The highlight of the darts calendar, the event draws in viewers from across the planet to watch players and personalities alike bid to crown themselves world champion.
Back in January, teenage sensation and current world No1 Luke Littler put his 2024 disappointment behind him to defeat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen in a 7-3 demolition job, with reigning champion Luke Humphries stunned in the fourth round by the maverick Peter Wright.
The man that toppled Wright was Stephen Bunting, who ultimately fell to Littler in the last four, as the then 17-year-old cruised to a 6-1 win.
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Now, Bunting, the world No4, is eyeing a maiden PDC world title to add to the BDO World Championship he lifted back in 2014.
It’s not just the class of MvG, the ruthlessness of ‘The Nuke’, or the poise of ‘Cold Hand Luke’ that stands in the way of ‘The Bullet’, as emerging young stars look to tread a similar path to that of Littler.
There are two Dutchmen that Bunting classes as “revelations”, and another that he really hoped to avoid in the draw when it was made on November 24.
“Gian van Veen’s got to be up there, and Wessel Nijman too,” Bunting told Standard Sport.
“They’ve been revelations. They’re not new to the game anymore. They’re experienced now and know how to win on the big stage. Gian, especially, won that last title - the Europeans. It’ll give them massive confidence going into the Worlds. He becomes a dangerous player.”
Beau Greaves, who has won a record 44 PDC Women’s Series titles, is another that Bunting has eyes on.
On her UK Open debut earlier this year, she pushed then world No1 Humphries to the limit, leading 7-5 before conceding the next five legs to lost 10-7.
"She belongs in this environment,” Humphries said afterwards.
“She really did test me there and if we were in a Premier League game she would have beaten me."
‘Beau n’ Arrow’ then stunned Littler in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship last month, just a day after ‘The Nuke’ had romped to the World Grand Prix title.
“No one wants to draw her,” Bunting said.
“Definitely not. She’s an exceptional talent. The way that the draw’s going to work, someone drops on her, because she’s an outside player.”
To Bunting’s relief, he avoids Greaves, having been drawn at the top of the second quarter bracket.
Greaves, meanwhile, is near the bottom of the draw, and takes on No22 seed Daryl Gurney in the first round of her second appearance at the World Championship.
Bunting himself will play the Pole Sebastian Bialecki in his opening encounter, and Dirk van Duijvenbode could be the first seed he faces in the third round, should the 29th-ranked Dutchman make it through.
Naturally, the one everyone will be watching is Littler, the defending champion, and he arrives at Ally Pally full of confidence, claiming both the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship trophies this month to set his Greaves shock aside.
“Littler is young, but has been exceptional,” Bunting said.
“[Littler, van Veen, and Nijman] are the three main young ones that are at the top of their game and are in with a chance of winning the world title.
“Littler is the name on everyone’s lips at the minute. He’s the reason why the sponsorship and money of our sport has gone up and the demographic has dropped so much. For what he’s done for the sport in such little time.
“It’s not just him; I’ve noticed it with myself now, walking around Liverpool doing some shopping, and I’ve got a load of 15 year old kids running after me wanting autographs and pictures, which never happened five, ten years ago.
“He’s only going to keep rising. We need to improve else he’s going to run away with all the titles.”
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