Luke Littler lost to Cam Crabtree in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship.
Crabtree beat Littler 6-5 and will meet Jan Schmidt in the final at Minehead.
Littler came back from 2-0 to level the game, but Crabtree ultimately overhauled him.
Littler was playing for the first time since his shock defeat to Luke Woodhouse in the opening stage of the World Grand Prix.
He was flawless in the group stage at the World Youth Championship, taking three wins. He then saw off Lewis Cook, coming back from a 3-1 deficit. Littler then beat David Fidler 6-1 and reached the quarter-finals after defeating Archie Self 6-4.
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Barry Hearn thinks Luke Littler is a natural born darts player and that the 19-year-old needs to show people boos won’t put him off his game.
Littler took a 6-2 victory over Harrison Leigh to win through to the final four but then came unstuck against the 23-year-old Crabtree.
Earlier this year Littler looked like he would steamroll all before him, but his bid for a clean sweep of all major PDC titles in 2026 ended in Amsterdam where the Briton complained about being repeatedly whistled at by Dutch supporters.
A dip in form has then been compounded by unexpected defeats at the World Grand Prix and now the World Youth Championship.
What’s next?
The European Tour season continues with the Swiss Darts Trophy (October 9-11) and the Dutch Darts Championship (October 16-18) before the European Championship takes place in Dortmund, Germany from October 22-25.
Sky Sports remains the home of darts with the Grand Slam of Darts (November 14-22) and World Darts Championship (December 10-January 3) both live. Stream darts and more through NOW with no contract.
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