THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Next Littlerwatch bulletin: the first Players Championship event in Wigan, his first ranking tournament since the Worlds. These are the 'floor' tournaments: no spectators or razzmatazz, but they're the bread and butter of gaining ranking points and qualifying for the big TV tournaments. 128 players, straight knockout and all the big names are there.

This was Littler's first PC event, and he won it. Not only that, but he hit another 9-darter on the way, his second in the last few weeks. If he wins the next tournament tomorrow, he might actually overtake the great Raymond van Barneveld in the world rankings.

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

I'm a sad git who emotionally overinvests in sports. And I've spent the last week following Liam Davies' latest attempts to get on the Snooker Main Tour in some amateur tournaments from Sarajevo, shown live on YouTube.

He's been very close a good few times in the last couple of years, and so, even though he's still only 17, it was getting pretty frustrating seeing him just miss out so many times. Last week, he was 9-7 up in the final of the first of those tournaments, against a much more experienced player - needing just 1 frame to win his place on the tour - only to lose the last 3 frames and get beat 10-9 and agonizingly miss out once again.

He then immediately featured in the Euro U21's, with again a 2 year place on the tour for the winner. So once again I was one of the very few saddos watching the games from Sarajevo on YouTube. And this time it was well worth it, as he managed to win the tournament and finally get himself a main Tour card!

I'm not predicting huge things of him in the Luke Littler style or anything like that. But he's a good young player and I'm hoping he'll be able to compete well enough to stay on the Tour at least.

That's now all four of the youngsters that I've been rooting for over the last few years that have got onto the Tour. Young Stan Moody got on last year, and the two Belgians (Ben Mertens and Julian Leclercq) got on the year before that. Though they both face a tough final couple of months to secure their Tour cards for next season, as might Moody next year. But they're all still young and they'd have benefitted from the experience of being on the main Tour in the long run even if they end up having to qualify for it all over again.

Pedro Acosta!

I predicted on this thread two years ago that he would make his MotoGP debut with KTM in 2024, and in Qatar the weekend before last, he didn't disappoint.

Eighth in the sprint, and ninth in the GP - had a go at Marc Marquez and got third early on, then dropped back because he'd overcooked his tyres, but still a fantastic result.

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

Great post. I struggle to find the time to watch the snooker outside of the majors, so please keep me posted!

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

I'd also like to point out that Littler is third in the PL at the moment, and has absolutely thrived in it so far. Which has shut me up!

I really hope he can keep it up because he's been a breath of fresh air for the top end of darts, as has Luke Humphries.

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

Thanks.

The third tournament of the trio held in Sarajevo has just finished. This was the European Championship for amateurs, so the same U21 players were in it as the previous Euro U21 tournament, but competing against other European players of all ages as well this time.

The final today was between Northern Ireland's Robbie McGuigan and Craig Steadman. And, thankfully, McGuigan won. I say that as he's a 19 year old (Mark Allen's step son for a time) whose been looking like making the tour for the last couple of years, while Steadman is 41 and has been on and off the tour a number of times without ever breaking into the top 64 so much better to see a youngster like McGuigan get his first chance.

So the three teenagers so far who'll be newcomers to the main Tour from next season are Liam Davies (Wales), Robbie McGuigan (Northern Ireland), Bulcsú Révész (Hungary). There's still qualifiers from other regions (probably more young Chinese players among them). And the usual Q School qualification at the end of the season.

Pedro Acosta, in only his second top-class grand prix, finished third today.

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

Luke Littler took his first Premier League night win in Belfast last night. Beat Humphries, beat Van Gerwen, then beat Aspinall in the final including an absolutely phenomenal bull-25-bull checkout.

He's now second in the table, ahead of MVG, who he is playing in the first round next week. I've got to hand it to the kid: I normally get bored of the PL by this stage!

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

Littler won again last night and is now top of the PL table!

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"I sometimes buy the Big Issue out of social embarrassment. I don't buy a fucking bank!"

This aged well then

To be fair that's a massive credit to Littler. The Worlds could have been a huge flash in the pan and he could have sunk back down the rankings but he's just going from strength to strength.

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Cuboid of bum fluff