Luke Littler has hit back at Dennis Priestley after the darts legend claimed both he and Luke Humphries let England down at the World Cup of Darts and didn't deserve an MBE.
The teenage sensation has enjoyed a whirlwind rise in the sport since reaching the 2024 World Darts Championship final on debut as a 16-year-old and 12 trailblazing months later he went one better by defeating Michael van Gerwen.
Littler had also won the 2024 Premier League and Grand Slam of Darts during an amazing first full year as a professional, and now sits in second place behind Humphries on the PDC Order of Merit.
The 18-year-old has also helped to inspire a new generation of young fans around the world, with global interest in darts at an all-time high, so it wasn't really a shock for him to be recognised in the King's Birthday Honours alongside Humphries, who has also massively contributed to the sport's boom.
However, former world champion Priestley believes neither have done enough to warrant MBEs yet, while he also strongly criticised the pair for their disappointingly early exit at the World Cup of Darts, for which they were hot favourites to win.
This came after Gerwyn Price revealed that Littler and Humphries lacked the same kind of team spirit as the other nations during last week's event in Frankfurt.
Luke Littler hits back at Dennis Priestley for claiming both he and Luke Humphries "let their country down" at the World Cup and didn't deserve their MBEs.
— Sport on Sporting Life (@SLSport_)
Priestley told GB News: "Luke Littler and Luke Humphries let their country down at the World Cup of Darts. From what we’ve heard they weren’t sitting together or practising together.
"When I was playing in pairs with Phil Taylor we practised together and sat together, we played all over the world and I only remember us getting beaten once.
"To be brutally honest, I don’t think either Luke Littler or Luke Humphries have done enough to earn their MBEs just yet.
"I think in time they could’ve done enough to warrant it but it feels very early, they have both won one World Championship each and are still young in their careers.
"Littler has been recognised for raising the popularity of darts which is great, but he can still do so much more.
"If he is getting an MBE this soon then you’d have to think he is on the right path to a knighthood, nothing would surprise me now."
But Littler responded on social media by saying: "Don't deserve an MBE but done more in 12 months than he ever did... that's what I would say anyway."
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