Vincent van der Voort was left stunned by Luke Littler's exit from the European Championship in Dortmund, where the English world champion fell 10-6 to Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals. The defeat means Littler once again missed out on the European title, and Van der Voort believes the world number one got in his own way by experimenting with his throw despite his usual technique proving so successful.
Speaking on the Darts Draait Door podcast, the former professional was initially full of praise for the level Littler showed in Dortmund. "He was simply brilliant. You want to see the world number one. He's the man to beat, so of course you always want him in your tournament. He was really there to win, too," Van der Voort said. Littler opened the tournament with a convincing win over William O'Connor, then impressed against Nathan Aspinall in the second round, averaging more than 114.
Things went wrong in the quarter-final against Ratajski. The Pole raced into an 8-2 lead before Littler tried to fight his way back, but Van der Voort believes the Englishman was partly to blame for his own problems. "He'd decided once again to try a different style. He averages 114 against Aspinall, but against Ratajski you can see it's just not working. Then he goes back to his old throw, and you immediately see how much smoother it is."
Van der Voort cannot understand why Littler keeps experimenting with a technique that, in his view, takes more energy than his natural throw. "He slows his throw down, and he can do that well. That's not the problem. But with his normal throw, where he releases the darts so smoothly and doesn't aim as much, he can keep it up for hours. He can't do that with the other throw. It simply takes much more effort. Why do that?" He added: "The day before, he averages 114, so nobody asks why he's doing it. But those kinds of styles often only work for a short time because they're not your natural way of throwing. You have to hope he has people around him who point that out. He should just get back to basics sooner."
After his defeat to Ratajski, the European Championship remains the only major Littler has yet to win. Van der Voort therefore expects the exit to have hit the Englishman hard. "That makes sense. When you win everything, a quarter-final is nothing." It is also notable that Littler has not shown the same dominance at major televised events since his impressive World Matchplay victory. He did win on the European Tour, but then suffered early exits at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam, the World Grand Prix and the European Championship. Van der Voort says that does not mean Littler has suddenly become a worse player, but he sees the competition getting chances to win major titles again. "It means the field is open again. That's good, isn't it? At first, we just felt that if Littler was playing, he would win. But it would be nice to see the field open up again."
