Luke Littler forced to miss darts tournament as PDC make announcement on teenager

Luke Littler forced to miss darts tournament as PDC make announcement on teenager

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Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 20/03/2024

- 15:27

Updated: 20/03/2024

- 15:46

The youngster will not be part of a star-studded line-up at a PDC event

Luke Littler will be the only Premier League player who will not be at the Nordic Darts Masters in June, the PDC have announced.

The other seven players stars from the Premier League will be present but the teenager will be forced to skip the event due to family commitments.


Littler has had an extremely busy first year as a professional so far and opted out of this week's Players Championships in Germany.

The 17-year-old has already won three tournaments since bursting onto the scene at the World Championship at Alexandra Palace in December.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler will not be at the Nordic Darts Masters in June, the PDC have announced

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Littler played the first four Players Championship events of the year as well as competing in Euro Tour Card Holder qualifiers.

He attended both the UK Open and Belgian Darts Open, winning the latter, and is seven weeks into his first Premier League campaign.

His schedule for the remainder of the year will be carefully managed after TV appearances on The Jonathan Ross Show and Comic Relief.

But it will be family ties that will get in his way of participating in Denmark for the Nordic Darts Masters.

The PDC confirmed on Wednesday that Littler will not be taking part in the event, which has run annually since 2021.

Eight of the best players from the PDC will be present, with Dimitri van den Bergh the only non-Premier League player to attend.

The likes of Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries will compete against Nordic and Baltic representatives on June 7 and 8 in Copenhagen.

But fans will be disappointed that Littler isn't available to participate following his stunning rise in the sport.

Littler has taken the world of darts to a new level since his record-breaking run at Ally Pally.

He has already hit three nine-darters this year, one away from the all-time record of the most maximums hit in a calendar year.

Littler is well-placed in the Premier League ahead of night eight in Dublin this Thursday, sitting third in the table.

He is still eyeing a first nightly win as he looks to cement his place in the top four ahead of the play-offs at London's O2 Arena in May.

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Luke Littler

Luke Littler has had several TV appearances in recent weeks

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PDC chief executive Matthew Porter recently admitted that Littler's workload is being managed in order to prevent burnout in his first year on the tour.

Porter said on the Love The Darts podcast: "It's early days, it's hard to think we're only three months into the Luke Littler story but who knows how long it might last?"

"What's been really positive is Luke's recent wins are going to help his schedule because it will reduce the number of qualifiers he has to play in which will be good for him.

"We've got a full safeguarding policy, we've had a heavy involvement in youth darts for a decade now so we're well versed in dealing with minors.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler has taken the world of darts by storm in 2024

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"Not always at this level to be fair, but nevertheless there's a grounding in place and a lot of very experienced qualified people in place, support networks, the PDPA (Professional Darts Players Association) are there, everybody is fully aware of the situation.

"Luke's diary is kind of being managed on a short-term basis because it will change so frequently.

"We aren't looking ahead to August, September, October, November yet.

"It's very much on what's going to work this month to give him as much chance to play darts as he does to rest from darts."

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