Luke Littler sticks with omelette and pizza build-up ahead of World final clash

By Jonathan Veal, PA

Teenage star Luke Littler will stick with his diet of cheese and ham omelettes and pizza as he tries to complete his history-making World Championship dream.

The 16-year-old debutant continued his amazing Alexandra Palace journey by becoming the youngest-ever finalist when he destroyed 2018 champion Rob Cross in the semi-final.

He is now on the cusp of producing one of the greatest sporting stories of all time, with new world number one Luke Humphries standing in his way.

Littler has made history with some unconventional preparations, with his love of kebabs also a theme of his run to the final, but it is working for him.

“I’ll keep doing what I have been doing,” he said. “I don’t wake up until 12, in the morning go for my ham and cheese omelette, come here and have my pizza, and then go on the practice board.

“It is what I have been doing every day – if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Littler has already proved he is the real deal but produced his biggest statement yet as he downed eighth seed Cross 6-2 in stunning fashion.

He bombarded the treble-20 for 16 180s, produced three 130-plus checkouts and averaged 106.05 in a nerveless performance.

“I haven’t got the words. It’s crazy,” he said. “I have just settled on that stage.

“It has not even sunk in yet. I have surprised myself.

“I have just got to stay focused and be Luke Littler. I have got to be mature and be myself.

“It would be unbelievable if I won it, I only wanted to win one match.”

He will come up against his toughest opponent yet in Humphries, who is the form player in the world.

The 28-year-old came into the tournament by winning three of the last four majors and produced one of the best ever performances at Ally Pally to whitewash Scott Williams 6-0 in his semi-final.

In doing so, he overtook Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith to become the new world number one – but he says becoming world champion would be more meaningful.

He said: “It feels amazing, I would never have imagined myself to be world number one and I did it in style, I was really pleased with the performance.

“I have always said world number one can last a number of months, world champion is forever.”