Archie Self, 16, breaks Luke Littler's record with televised nine-darter

Archie Self, a 16-year-old darts player from England, became the youngest player ever to hit a nine-dart finish on television, breaking the record set by world champion Luke Littler. Self threw the perfect leg on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, in the opening leg of his match against Danny Ayres during Champions Week of the MODUS Super Series, which is broadcast on Pluto TV. He scored 180, 180 and then 141, finishing on treble 20, treble 19 and double 12, and went on to win the match.

A nine-dart finish is darts' version of a perfect game. A leg starts at 501 and must end on a double, so the only way to finish in nine darts is to score at a near-perfect rate with every throw. Even top professionals hit only a handful in televised matches in a whole career. Doing it at 16, under television lights, is a sign of rare skill and nerve.

The record has a special story behind it. Luke Littler became a household name in darts when he reached the PDC World Championship final at 16 and later won the title. His televised nine-darter in Bahrain in January 2024, two days before his 17th birthday, beat a record Michael van Gerwen had held since 2007. That Self has now gone younger shows how quickly the age of top performers in darts is falling. Commentators and darts writers reacted by comparing his path with Littler's, with one report quoting a reaction that he is "doing things that even Littler didn't".

Self is not an overnight story. According to darts reports, he had come close to a perfect leg several times in the two weeks before, missing at the last darts. He won the WDF World Youth title at 15 and plays on the Junior Darts Corporation circuit, a youth pathway that trains young players for the professional tour. The MODUS Super Series is a regular streamed event where weekly winners meet in a Champions Week, which this year was played in Portsmouth with a prize of £20,000 and the series title at stake.

For young sports fans in India, the story is a reminder that sport has more than one route to the top. Darts is still a small sport in India, but the professional game abroad now has a clear youth pathway from junior tours to televised events. Self's rise shows what steady competition at youth level can build.

Short-term: Self will draw far more attention from fans, sponsors and organisers, and his results in the rest of Champions Week and the junior circuit will be watched closely. Expect his name to come up in talk of the sport's next generation alongside Littler.

Long-term: Records like this tend to speed up the push of young players into the professional tour. If Self keeps progressing, he could follow Littler into the biggest events, where qualification through junior and development tours is the usual path.

Who is affected: Young darts players and their coaches, the Junior Darts Corporation and other youth tours, the professional darts circuit looking for new stars, and fans who follow the sport on streaming platforms.

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