Luke Littler: Nine other teen sport sensations

Published

2 years ago

January 4, 2024

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A 16-year-old from Warrington fell agonisingly short of becoming the youngest ever world darts champion after capturing the nation’s attention.

Luke Littler was on the brink of history at Alexandra Palace on Wednesday night but eventually lost to Luke Humphries in the final.

However, the teenager did secure £200,000 in prize money for reaching the showpiece in north London, and has become a household name in the sport despite his age.

He swept away darts legend Raymond van Barneveld, a five-time world champion, to secure a place in the quarter-finals – before beating Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan to reach the semi-finals.

Littler then claimed victory over 2018 champion Rob Cross in the last four to become the youngest ever finalist in the competition’s history.

Over the years many other teenage athletes have left us in awe – from Emma Raducanu’s shock US Open win in 2021 to the days of teen Tom Daley in the 2000s and Pele in the 1960s.

Boris Becker

Boris Becker’s long reign as a great of international tennis began in 1985 when he was just 17.

His win at the All England Club that year saw him become the youngest player to win the men’s singles title in Wimbledon history.

He went on to win 49 major titles, including six grand slams, making it to world number one in 1991.

Becker won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s, as well as the Australian and US Opens – and an Olympic gold in Barcelona in 1992.

In later years, plagued by financial and tax worries, he was eventually given a prison sentence for failing to declare £2.5m in assets and was deported to his native Germany on his release in December 2022.

Wilfred Benitez

Wilfred ‘El Radar’ Benitez became the youngest world champion in boxing history when he beat Antonio Cervantes at just 17 in March 1976.

He turned pro at 15 and was managed by his father, Gregorio Benitez. He and his brothers Frankie and Gregory were from one of Puerto Rico’s prominent boxing families, forging their success via New York City.

His 1976 win saw him claim both the light welterweight and lineal light welterweight titles.

Around 10 years later doctors discovered he had suffered neurological damage in the ring and urged him to retire.

Determined to carry on, he was forced to fight abroad after being banned from competing by several US states.

Today he suffers from dementia and is cared for by family members at home.

Sky Brown

Sky Brown became Great Britain’s youngest-ever Olympian and medal winner when she took bronze in the women’s park skateboarding event at the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Despite falling on her first two attempts – she made the third for a spot on the podium at the age of just 13 years and 28 days.

With a British father and Japanese mother, Brown splits her time between Miyazaki and California – but took the decision to compete for Team GB.

Since her Olympic medal, she has won at the X Games and the park event at the 2023 World Skateboarding Championship to become the first-ever British skateboarding world champion.

Her younger brother Ocean Brown is also a talented skateboarder.

Tom Daley

Tom Daley began diving aged seven in his hometown of Plymouth and started competing both nationally and internationally aged nine.

He was Team GB’s youngest Olympian at the Beijing Games in 2008, aged 14, but failed to secure a medal in the 10m or synchro events.

That year he won gold at the British and European championships – and secured gold at the world championships the following year.

He was a so-called ‘poster boy’ for the London 2012 Games, winning bronze in the 10m event.

Daley has spoken regularly about the pressures of being a young sports star in the public eye.

It wasn’t until the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo that he finally achieved his career goal of winning an Olympic gold with his partner Matty Lee.

Katie Ledecky

Still aged just 26, American swimmer Katie Ledecky is one of the most decorated in history.

By the end of her teens, she had five Olympic golds and nine world championship titles to her name.

Having started swimming aged six, she made her international debut at the London 2012 Olympics at 15 when she surprised spectators and coaches by winning gold in the women’s 800m freestyle.

She won four golds, two silvers, and secured two world records when she competed at Rio 2016 four years later.

Ledecky still holds various world records, achieving her first for the fastest 1,500m freestyle at the Barcelona 2013 World Championships aged 16.

Pele

After a record-breaking career, Pele was regarded as one of the greatest sportsmen of the 20th century.

At the age of 15, his coach told club directors in his native Sao Paolo he would become the “greatest football player in the world”.

A year later he was the top scorer in Brazil’s national league, leading to a call-up from the national team.

At 17 in 1958, he inspired his country’s World Cup win with a hat-trick in the semi-final and two goals in the final.

Ultimately he scored 1,279 goals across 1,363 games, which is still a Guinness World Record.

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu, from Bromley, in south London, first made her name as a wildcard entry at Wimbledon in June 2021.

At just 18 she became the youngest British woman and only the fourth British teenager in the Open era to make the last 16 of the tournament.

She impressed with her defeat over Sorana Cirstea – but had to retire in the fourth round against Ajla Tomljanovic due to breathing problems.

Then ranked 150th in the world, she won her way into the main draw of the US Open that autumn.

She became the first British woman to reach the final since Virginia Wade in 1968 – and didn’t drop a single set on her way to winning the tournament outright.

This saw her jump 332 places in the world rankings from her position at the start of the year to Number 23.

She won BBC Sports Personality of the Year that December and has since secured lucrative sponsorship deals from Nike, Dior, British Airways and Tiffany & Co.

Ronnie O Sullivan

Nicknamed ‘The Rocket’, Ronnie O’Sullivan turned professional at the age of 16 in 1992, having won a match in just 43 minutes during his debut season.

A year later he became the youngest ever winner of the UK Snooker Championships when he beat fellow teenager Stephen Hendry. At 19 he had also secured a Masters title.

Two years ago he bookended his career by becoming the oldest winner of the same championship he broke the record for at 16.

Characterised by his attacking style and emotional outbursts, O’Sullivan is regarded as one of the greatest snooker players of all time.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar was encouraged to take up cricket at 11 as a means of getting out of trouble at school.

Now regarded as one of the greatest batters the sport has seen, he broke records for being the youngest player to debut for India in both Test and one-day international cricket at 16.

He remains the leading run scorer in Test and ODI cricket.

He worked as a ball boy during the 1987 Cricket World Cup in the semi-final between England and Bombay.

Towards the end of his teenage years, he made history when he was selected to play for Yorkshire. The prestigious club side had never chosen a player from outside the county before – let alone England.

He ascended to the captaincy of the Indian national team and had major success domestically for Mumbai.

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Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages

Published

6 hours ago

August 22, 2025

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Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages

Israel will resume negotiations with Hamas for the release of all hostages captured during the October 7 attack, Benjamin Netanyahu has said – but its military will continue its Gaza City offensive despite international outcry.

The remarks from Israel’s prime minister are the first since Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire proposal.

Talks will also be with a view to ending the war, but Mr Netanyahu said it must be on “terms acceptable to Israel”.

In the meantime, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have begun calling medics and international organisations in northern Gaza to encourage them to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation in Gaza City.

Many of Israel’s closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Some Israelis fear it could doom the remaining 20 or so living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the war.

Israel plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more.

Speaking to soldiers near Israel’s border with Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said he was still set on approving plans for defeating Hamas and capturing Gaza City.

“At the same time I have issued instructions to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel,” he said.

“These two things – defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages – go hand in hand,” he added.

The latest ceasefire proposal drawn up by Egypt and Qatar is almost identical to an earlier one that Israel accepted before the talks stalled last month.

The proposal would include the release of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a pullback of Israeli forces and negotiations over a lasting ceasefire.

‘Don’t tell us where to build’

Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, including at a tent camp in Deir al-Balah.

Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office in response to a controversial West Bank settlement plan which has been given final approval.

The project, known as the E1 settlement, would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two.

The UK and 21 international partners have released a statement to condemn the decision “in the strongest terms” calling it “a flagrant breach of international law” and “critically undermining a two-state solution”.

Ms Hotovely gave Sky News her response to the meeting: “I said we wouldn’t tell the British where to build in London. Don’t tell us where to build in Jerusalem, our capital. We see E1 as part of Greater Jerusalem.”

UK warns of ‘horrifying starvation’

The UK has also responded to comments from the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA that famine in Gaza is “deliberate” and being used as an “instrument of war”.

Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has called for a “comprehensive [peace] plan to end this misery and get to a long-term settlement”.

“Israel must immediately and permanently lift all barriers preventing aid reaching the people of Gaza to prevent the horrifying starvation in the Strip continuing,” he added.

Demand for Gaza media access

The Media Freedom Coalition, which includes the UK and 50 other countries, has called on Israel to allow foreign media access into Gaza.

In a joint statement, the coalition, which is a partnership of countries working to defend media freedom, urged Israel to “allow immediate independent foreign media access” and “afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza”.

They said this was in light of the “unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

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Israel maintains pressure on Gaza City as ‘first stages of attack begin’

Published

9 hours ago

August 21, 2025

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Gaza City residents say Israel carried out intense overnight bombardments as it prepares a controversial offensive to take control of the area.

Sixty-thousand reservists are being called up after Benjamin Netanyahu‘s security cabinet approved the plan earlier this month.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned of more “death and destruction” if Israel tries to seize the city, while France’s Emmanuel Macron said it would be a “disaster” that would lead to “permanent war”.

Live – UN warns of ‘forcible transfer’ as forces advance on Gaza City

Hundreds of thousands of people could end up being forcibly displaced – a potential war crime, according to the UN’s human rights office.

Gaza’s health ministry said at least 70 people had been killed in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, including eight people in a house in the Sabra suburb of Gaza City.

Israel currently controls about 75% of the Gaza Strip, but Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel must take Gaza City to “finish the job” and defeat Hamas.

Mr Netanyahu and his ministers are due to meet on Thursday to discuss the plans, according to Israeli media.

Military spokesperson Effie Defrin said earlier that “preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack” had begun – with troops operating on the outskirts of Gaza City.

Israel has said it will order evacuation notices before troops move in but satellite images show thousands of people have already left.

Residents said shelling has intensified in the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods and that those fleeing have gone to coastal shelters or to central and southern parts of the Strip.

The decision to stay or leave is an agonising choice for many.

“We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain,” said father of seven Rabah Abu Elias.

“In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn’t an easy decision to make,”

Most of the Israeli reservists being summoned are not expected to be in a frontline combat role and the call-up is set to take a while.

The window could give mediators more time to convince Israel to accept a temporary ceasefire.

Hamas has already agreed to the proposal – envisaging 10 living hostages and 18 bodies being released in return for a 60-day truce and the freedom of about 200 Palestinian prisoners.

Israel hasn’t officially responded, but insists it wants all 50 remaining hostages released at once. Only 20 of them are still believed to be alive.

The war started nearly two years ago when a Hamas terror attack killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250.

More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The figure doesn’t break down how many were Hamas members, but it says women and children make up more than half.

Two more people also died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Thursday, taking the total to 271, including 112 children.

COGAT, the body controlling aid into Gaza, said 250 aid trucks entered on Wednesday, with 154 pallets air-dropped.

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Police in Kenya begin exhuming shallow graves of suspected cult victims

Published

12 hours ago

August 21, 2025

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Police in Kenya begin exhuming shallow graves of suspected cult victims

Police, pathologists and grave diggers have started the exhumation of 27 shallow graves in Kenya’s Kilifi County.

The remains are believed to be of followers of a deadly cult in Chakama Ranch, a part of the Shakahola Forest.

In 2023, more than 400 mass graves were discovered in the same forest, all members of controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie’s church. They were encouraged to starve themselves to death to get into heaven.

It remains one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies. Mackenzie is still in jail and faces numerous charges of terrorism, child torture and murder.

The remote forest has again been turned into a crime scene.

Morticians were seen carrying out body bag after body bag, some containing the remains of children believed to have been starved to death.

State pathologist Dr Richard Njoroge said this is just the beginning, as investigators expect to find many more bodies: “Today we managed to exhume six.

“Of the six graves, we found five bodies and then also around that area we found ten different scattered body parts, scattered in different places on the surface.”

Eleven suspects have already been arrested in connection with these deaths and will appear in court on Friday.

Police are investigating links to Mackenzie and members of his Good News International Church.

At the exhumation today, pathologists said they were still working to identify the bodies of those exhumed from Mackenzie’s cult.

“We had 453 at the closure of that exercise, I think, we released around 33 or 34 last time. So, from there are 419 remaining,” Dr Njoroge explained.

Police have encouraged families in the area with missing loved ones to come forward and provide their DNA samples, as efforts to identify the dead continue.

Kenya is grappling with a rise in religious extremism and many churches operating informally.

Parliament passed several preliminary bills aimed at regulating religious organisations last year, but implementation has stalled after resistance from church leaders.