LONDON (AP) — Luke Littler has set his sights on becoming the most successful darts player ever after becoming the sport's youngest world champion at age 17.
Fresh from beating three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the world championship final on Friday, Littler said he was targeting darts great Phil Taylor's record haul of 16 world titles.
Taylor is the only player to have won the world championship more than five times, yet Littler — a generational talent who has taken darts into the mainstream — believes he could set a new record.
Asked what he could achieve, Littler said: “Add on to it. Get maybe a few more. If I want the 16, then I am sure I could possibly achieve it.
“If deep down, if I really want it, then with my ability, I’m sure I can achieve a lot more. But I know I’m in this for a long, long time."
Taylor was 29 when he won his first world title so Littler has a big head-start in that respect.
“I could be chasing Michael’s three titles and potentially Phil’s 16,” Littler said.
“I want to become one of the best of all time. It will take however many times. Phil Taylor won many. I know Michael has won 100-plus titles. But for myself, I want to win as much as I can.”
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Luke Littler of England celebrates after winning the final against Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Luke Littler of England celebrates after winning the final against Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands, right, at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (Zac GoodwinPA via AP)
Luke Littler of England kisses the trophy after winning the final against Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Luke Littler of England holds the trophy after winning the final against Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands at the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace in London, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's decision to block a proposed nearly $15 billion deal for Nippon to acquire Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel..
The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, alleges that it was a political decision and violated the companies' due process.
“From the outset of the process, both Nippon Steel and U. S. Steel have engaged in good faith with all parties to underscore how the Transaction will enhance, not threaten, United States national security, including by revitalizing communities that rely on American steel, bolstering the American steel supply chain, and strengthening America’s domestic steel industry against the threat from China," the companies said in a prepared statement Monday. “Nippon Steel is the only partner both willing and able to make the necessary investments.”
Nippon Steel had promised to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s aging blast furnace operations in Gary, Indiana, and Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley. It also vowed not to reduce production capacity in the United States over the next decade without first getting U.S. government approval.
Biden on Friday decided to stop the Nippon takeover — after federal regulators deadlocked on whether to approve it — because “a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority. ... Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure," he said in a statement.
While administration officials have said the decision was unrelated to Japan's relationship with the U.S. — this is the first time a U.S. president has blocked a merger between a U.S. and Japanese firm.
Biden departs the White House in just a few weeks.
The president's decision to block the deal comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month, and sent a long-awaited report on the merger to Biden. He had 15 days to reach a final decision.
In a separate lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on the same day, the companies accused steel-making rival Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and its CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, in coordination with David McCall, the head of the U.S. Steelworkers union, of “engaging in a coordinated series of anticompetitive and racketeering activities” to block the deal.
In 2023 before U.S. Steel accepted the buyout offer from Nippon, Cleveland-Cliffs offered to buy U.S. Steel for $7 billion. U.S. Steel turned down the offer and later accepted a nearly $15 billion all-cash offer from Nippon Steel, which is the deal that Biden nixed Friday.
FILE - This is a portion of US Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, Pa., on Sunday, Apr., 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - This is a portion of US Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, Pa., on Sunday, Apr., 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
