LUKE Littler’s stunning display on his Paddy Power World Darts Championship debut raised thousands for the event’s chosen charity, Prostate Cancer UK.

During the festive sporting spectacular, ‘THE BIG 180’ campaign will see the charity earn £1,000 for every 180 thrown by players in the tournament.

And when 16-year-old former Padgate Academy student Littler stormed to a 3-0 victory in his opening round clash against Christian Kist last night, he hit seven 180s in the process to add £7,000 to a pot that had already reached £272,000 by the end of yesterday’s play at Alexandra Palace.

He will look to boost the fund further when he faces Andrew Gilding in the second round tonight.

Littler wore Prostate Cancer UK branding on his darts shirt as he swept aside Dutchman Kist.

“It was an amazing experience,” reflected Littler, who averaged 106.12 and pinned nine of his 18 attempts at a double.

“I knew my practice was going well, but I didn’t think that I would take that on to the stage.

“To hit the highest average on debut at the World Championship – this definitely ranks at the top of my achievements so far. It’s unbelievable.

“It’s also great to carry the Prostate Cancer UK branding on my shirt to raise awareness of such an important cause.

“The BIG 180 is a great charity partnership and it’s good that the players can raise as much money as they can by hitting maximums. I hope I can hit plenty more for them!”

Littler is backing the charity partnership as Prostate Cancer UK warns of a North-South divide in the likelihood of patients being diagnosed after their cancer has spread beyond the prostate and become incurable, as data shows the north west of England is one of several areas being left behind.

In the north west nearly one in five (19.4%) men with prostate cancer are diagnosed with incurable stage 4 prostate cancer, compared to less than 1 in 7 (13.7%) in London.

Scotland and the midlands are also shown to be badly affected.

Overall, almost 10,000 men each year are being diagnosed with stage four metastatic prostate cancer in the UK.

By working alongside Paddy Power and the PDC, Prostate Cancer UK continue to campaign for action to tackle these health inequalities by encouraging 180,000 men across the country to use its 30-second online risk checker during the tournament to help them understand their risk and what they can do about it.

Prostate Cancer UK chief executive Laura Kerby said: “It’s clear that this postcode lottery for cancer diagnosis simply isn’t fair, and the picture in the north west is worrying. Every man should get an equal chance of a cure, which is only possible if his cancer is caught early.

“Prostate cancer is curable if caught early, but early-stage prostate cancer often has no symptoms, so it is vital that men in the north west, and across the UK, know their risk – and we hope 180,000 fans will do that during the tournament via our simple online risk checker.

“This iconic tournament is a sporting staple across the festive period, and The BIG 180 will put us at the heart of the action. It will be a complete gamechanger for men and their loved ones affected by prostate cancer - one maximum at a time.”

All money raised throughout the Paddy Power World Darts Championship will fund lifesaving research to diagnose men sooner and improve the lives of men affected by the most common cancer in men.

It takes 30 seconds to answer three questions to check your prostate cancer risk. Do it now by clicking on the following link: prostatecanceruk.org/180-risk