Just look the young darts player’s face
Leighton Bennett has been widely regarded as the brightest young talent in British darts for quite some time and on Thursday afternoon, the 13-year-old further enhanced his growing reputation when he added the BDO World Youth Championship crown to his collection.
It was only a couple of months ago when Bennett defeated PDC professional Ricky Evans, a man 15 years his senior, on his way to winning the Cambridgeshire Open – a distinguished senior event.
This whole week the hotshot has been throwing against teenagers two, three and four years older than him but that didn’t bother him one bit. And with his tungsten arrows landing him in the final against sixteen-year-old Nathan Girvan, he kept up that blistering pace and form to win in a 3-0 whitewash.
The Lincoln teen, who averaged a highly creditable 86 for his day’s darts, checked out with a glorious 121 to seal the deal at the Lakeside Country club, finishing it off with a beautiful bullseye.
A 121 checkout on the bullseye to win a title on TV, aged 13.
Leighton Bennett's celebration defines the joy of sport!pic.twitter.com/OeWwZESaJa
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) January 10, 2019
While Bennett’s achievements and talent alone are headline-making, it’s the style, swagger and passion with which he toes the oche that endears him even more to the darting public.
His celebration above is something you’d associate with a soccer player rather than a darts player and it really encapsulates the beauty of sport in general.
Anybody who has been watching him knows that it’s not just for the cameras either – this is a chap who plays with a smile on his face and enjoys the life out of every dart thrown. Exceptional stuff.
