Luke Littler was absent from the Austrian Darts Open this weekend but starred at the highly regarded Armageddon exhibition in Leicester, where he came from 6-2 down to defeat Stephen Bunting 8-7 and win the George Pallett Trophy. The event, hosted by MDA at the Mattioli Arena, also saw Littler defeat young star Kye Courtney with a 12-darter sealing the win.
The tournament, which promoter Matt Ward said in an interview came from humble beginnings, has grown with the rise of darts and is now held at the same venue that hosts the World Grand Prix. Many top Premier League names were in attendance, including Littler, Nathan Aspinall, Gerwyn Price, Simon Whitlock, and Adrian Lewis.
Nathan Aspinall had a WWE-style mystery opponent as under a hood was Gerwyn Price, who also isn't in Graz this weekend, and Aspinall won 5-1. Aspinall also prevailed over Andy Courtney 3-1. Simon Whitlock defeated Scott Brookes 2-0, while Stephen Bunting beat Kyle Gilding 2-0. Adrian Lewis defeated Chris Wickenden and ended the night singing Angels on stage.
Local games saw Andy Hibbert defeat Chris Wickenden 10-8, Harry Ward became the 'Swadlingoat' by beating Ricky Sudale 4-2, and Charlie Marshall saw off Pete Burgoyne 4-2. The event, dubbed the biggest tournament not held by the PDC in the UK, raised questions about top names skipping PDC events after Mensur Suljovic complained to DartsNews about big names deciding to skip tournaments.
