Luke Littler has provided his view on the age-old debate of whether or not a nine-dart leg in darts is a tougher feat than a 147 break in snooker, agreeing with Ronnie O’Sullivan’s evaluation
Luke Littler agrees with Ronnie O’Sullivan {that a} 147 break in snooker is more difficult than attaining a nine-dart leg.
The 18-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday (January 21), received the PDC World Darts Championship earlier this month by defeating Michael van Gerwen 7-3 at Alexandra Palace. Regardless of his success in darts, together with a number of nine-dart finishes final 12 months, Littler believes that the precision required for a 147 break in snooker is tougher.
“I believe it must be a 147,” he instructed BBC Sport. “I do not know the foundations of snooker. What’s it? You pot a pink ball, you pot a colored ball, and also you simply go time and again. It is actually onerous. I would say a 147 is quite a bit tougher.”
This viewpoint aligns with snooker legend O’Sullivan’s argument {that a} 147 break requires 4 instances as a lot work as a nine-dart leg. “The 147 should be tougher, I believe,” O’Sullivan instructed Eurosport in 2023.
“I believe what you guys do on a dartboard and the way in which you make it look really easy is simply unbelievable, so complete respect to you guys. Simply with the ability to make a 147 or a nine-darter is a superb achievement, however I are likely to agree – perhaps the 147 could be barely tougher, simply because it is 36 photographs and you have solely 9 to do. We’ve to do 4 instances the quantity of labor that you simply do.”
Regardless of sharing a sentiment just like that of the darts legend Raymond van Barneveld, O’Sullivan admitted that evaluating it as much as a hole-in-one could also be a harder contest. The stats would counsel the opposite, with 210 recognised max snooker breaks surpassing the 96 televised nine-darters.
Nonetheless, the bar has been raised in each sports activities. Whereas the Nineteen Eighties noticed a mere eight 147s, that quantity has rocketed to 55 since 2020.
Darts has mirrored this explosive development; from simply a few nine-dart finishes earlier than 2001, 42 have dazzled audiences because the flip of the last decade.