Play all audios:
Michael Smith won the Premier League Darts' opening night in Cardiff on Thursday, and he claims Luke Littler had a part to play. With all eyes on the prodigious 17-year-old, Smith
discussed the benefits of being able to focus on his game and block out the media attention which followed him while he was world champion. 'Bully Boy' was off-colour during his
12-month reign as champion of the world, which ended with Luke Humphries' Alexandra Palace triumph last month. But he was back to his best on night one of the Premier League, seeing off
Michael van Gerwen, Littler and home favourite Gerwyn Price in the final to steal an early march on the competition. Smith claims to be relishing his underdog status, as well as the
attention being soaked up by Littler, which is allowing him to dial in more effectively. "My thoughts coming into the Premier League were that everyone was picking other players [to win
it]," he told Sky Sports. "I think I was fifth-favourite for it. The best thing about this year is that I turned up tonight and never got asked to do a single interview. As soon
as Littler walked in, people were onto him." Smith was outscored by Littler in Thursday's semi-final meeting, with the teenager averaging a superb 105.31. But he found the darts
when it mattered most, winning an 11th-leg decider to set up a final against Price, which he breezed through 6-2. "I can try and get back to it now," the 2023 world champion
continued. "Last year I couldn't sit for five minutes. I don't want to say I was or wasn't ready, but it was a different experience for me and I don't think I
handled it well. "But the next time, hopefully at the end of this year, I'll handle it better coming into next year. I was putting too much pressure on myself last year, this year
I don't really care. If I win the worlds, I know not to give up practicing. I got too complacent [the first time]. Next year I'll do it right, I'll do it properly and
I'll show all these [fans] what I can do." Littler has been on a barnstorming run since making his Ally Pally debut at the age of 16. He defied the odds by marching all the way to
the world final, beating former champions Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross before eventually losing a classic against Humphries. The 2007-born talent followed that up with a win and a
£20,000 cash prize on his World Series debut, notching a nine-darter against Nathan Aspinall before beating Price and Van Gerwen to win the Bahrain Darts Masters. And Littler made it
back-to-back World Series finals at the Dutch Darts Masters by taking revenge on Humphries and beating Price for the second time in as many weeks, before losing narrowly to Van Gerwen.
Littler notched a second victory over Humphries by storming through 6-2 on his Premier League debut in Cardiff, before being edged out by a red-hot Smith, who went on to win the night.