Darts player at World Open after Littler win

A darts player from the Midlands is preparing for an international competition after he managed to beat world champion Luke Littler.

Samuel Caswell, an electrician from Tamworth, will compete in the World Darts Open in Estonia, this weekend.

"I'm quite nervous to be fair," he said. "I've never done anything on this sort of scale."

Caswell, who plays in local leagues in the Midlands, beat Littler at a Lichfield exhibition match, which quickly gained traction on social media.

"It all blew up a little bit," he said. "Social media plays a big part in that and it's great to see that I've been given this chance by my sponsors and stuff like that to progress to the next stage that I want to be at in my career."

He described the moment he beat Littler as "something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life".

"Not many people can say they beat the world champion," Caswell said.

"I didn't get to sleep until two o'clock the same night because of the adrenaline."

He said Littler had encouraged him to pursue bigger competitions.

"He said, 'You can throw a good dart, you've got the confidence'," Caswell said.

But balancing his growing ambitions with full-time work has been a challenge.

"After a long day's hard work it doesn't half take it out of you," he added.

The winner of the Estonia event is expected to take home more than £5,000 in prize money.

Caswell is already planning his next move, with a competition in Budapest lined up in the coming weeks.

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