Luke Littler’s mother was not amused by Ricardo Pietreczko’s behaviour following a heated encounter with ‘The Nuke’ after his World Darts Championship breakthrough. The darts player, known as ‘Pikachu’, is set to return to Ally Pally on Tuesday night. He has previously participated in the PDC showpiece on two occasions, reaching the third round in 2024 and making it to the fourth round a year later.
Pikachu defeated Xiaochen Zong, Gian van Veen and Scott Williams before being knocked out by Nathan Aspinall. This year, he’ll face off against Jose de Sousa in the opening round and will need to be at his best to defeat the popular Portuguese player. The 31-year-old is no stranger to confrontations both on and off the oche and in 2024 he had a run-in with Littler, which prompted a reaction from the teenager’s mother.
Shortly after Littler’s remarkable run to the World Darts Championship final on his debut, he faced Pietreczko at the Belgian Darts Open in March 2024. Littler eventually won the tournament, but not before a tense showdown on stage.
The Nuke secured a 7-3 semi-final victory but when he extended his hand in sportsmanship, Pietreczko stormed towards him and appeared to launch a verbal attack in his face.
After the defeat, Pietreczko took to social media without revealing exactly what he’d said to Littler, but posted: “I really appreciate the fact that he can play a game like that at such an age. But I hope his arrogance punishes him.”
However, Littler’s mum, Lisa, remained unfazed by the incident. Darts pundit Wayne Mardle appeared to endorse a fan’s online suggestion that Littler “should have put the nut” on Pietreczko, and Lisa’s reaction was revealing.
She responded with a laughing emoji, a dartboard and a beaming face with hearts to the confrontation. Clearly, Lisa was delighted that someone had stood up for her son and showed that she and The Nuke were handling the situation with good humour.
Following his triumph in Belgium, Littler discussed the incident, confessing he couldn’t fathom Pietreczko’s reaction.
He told Sky Sports: “It has all come quicker than I even imagined for myself and my familyut I just have to thank myself for how well I played at the World Championships and then keeping this good form up.
“That game, I just, I didn’t know what I did wrong, but a lot of people were saying it was when I was on the 147 finish and I went for T19 and I tried going tops, bull, because I love tops and if I hit the tops I would have fancied myself for bull.
“But I missed it, but then he let that get to him throughout the game and I had a job to do. I think, ever since I have burst onto the scene, I know every player wants to beat me.
“Even my family and my manager have said you have always got to be on your A game because anyone who plays me now, it is a cup final to them.”
