Darts viewers stunned after learning age of Luke Littler's semi-final opponent

People tuning into the darts to watch the incredible rise of Luke Littler have been in for one hell of a shock after learning how old his next opponent is.

The 16-year-old already has plenty of darts fans wondering whether he's really his stated age or not and it seems as though he's not the only one in the sport who's bamboozled people with his age and appearance.

Some people watching Luke Littler's rise are finding it hard to believe he's still only 16 considering he's got a pretty good bit of facial hair going on but others have been bowled over by his next opponent.

Littler has already defeated Raymond van Barneveld and Brendan Dolan on his way to the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship.

Now if he wants to get into the final he's got to get past Rob Cross, a 33-year-old who's age is giving some folks watching the darts a hard time.

Tom Dulat/Getty Images

Cross mounted a stunning comeback from 4-0 down against Chris Dobey to win 5-4, becoming the first ever darts player to come back from such a position in the quarter-finals and win.

It's an incredible achievement for the 2018 world champion, who picked up the title on his debut in the World Darts Championship and has the unenviable task of defeating Littler and trying to halt the 16-year-old's incredible run.

The thing is, just as some darts fans are struggling to believe Littler is only 16, others are having a hard time acknowledging that Cross is a 33-year-old.

Some of them have even taken to social media to express their disbelief, with one saying that 'darts players age like no other people on earth'.

Someone else wondered 'how is Rob Cross 33 years old', while a third said they 'thought he was my dads age' and presumably their dad is older than 33.

Tom Dulat/Getty Images

He's definitely not the only darts player to have viewers bamboozled by his actual age.

Of course there are those who struggle to believe Littler is just 16, while plenty were also utterly confused by the fact that Michael van Gerwen is just 34.

Then again, even if they look older they've still got plenty of years left in darts, as evidenced by the fact that Rob Cross is actually going to be Littler's youngest opponent in the competition thus far, not counting the Ally Pally wasp.

As for how their match will turn out, they play each other tonight (2 January) to see who'll make it to the final.

Topics: Sport, Luke Littler

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker