An Oxfordshire teen will be attending the Junior Darts World Championships later this year after also being selected to play for England. 

Lilly Wheeler, 14, was one of three Faringdon Darts Academy juniors participating in the 2024 Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) event in Coventry over the weekend of June 1 and 2. 

She has now earned a spot at the JDC world championships in Gibraltar this November. 

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These same world championships went viral last year after teen darts sensation Luke Littler's impressive winning performance. Littler is an English professional darts player who is just 17-years-old. 

And now Lilly has also been selected to play for England in a newly created JDC five nations competition with details of the event to be confirmed.

Whether or not she manages to echo Littler's success and become the youngest world dart champion ever, she has already made her community and family very proud. 

The talented athlete said: “I couldn’t believe I’d actually qualified in my first year of playing the JDC tour competitively, and when I was told about England I was over the moon for the fact I get to play for my country.

"It makes me proud.”

Faringdon Darts Academy coach Joe Wheeler, who is also Lilly's dad, said the team was "so proud of all our members who have participated in the JDC this year" including Lola Wheeler and Ruby Hares. 

Mr Wheeler said "darts is in her family" and that Lilly had always played darts but had only recently started competing. 

He said: "We always had a dartboard up in the house however Lilly hasn't played competitively until about eight months ago."

"It means everything to us as an academy.

"We have been running for less that four months, we have over 30 regular juniors attending academy sessions over two nights a week.

"This is all down to Lilly’s hard work and determination."

The JDC world championships in Gibraltar will serve as the culmination of a series of JDC events where the elite players qualify for the world competition.

Oxford Mail: Luke Littler Luke Littler Mr Wheeler said: "As her coach (and Dad) I am very proud."

He also hopes to raise the profile of junior darts in the community, which Lilly's success is sure to put on the map. 

Lilly will join Paige Pauling, Taylor Field and Lexi-Jayne Rooksby in the world competition. 

16-year-old Paige Pauling was the Girls Series champion of the Coventry event - finishing the series with 29 wins from 29 matches. 

Mr Wheeler said: "Paige is such a great player, a definite future women’s world champion for sure."

"All of these girls have been an absolute pleasure to get to know.

"Thank you to JDC for giving them this opportunity."