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, but at one point Cook, only 16 years old himself, went 3-0 ahead only for Littler to stage a comeback.

Littler then beat David Fidler 6-1 and reached the quarter-finals after defeating Archie Self 6-4.

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.

This tournament is open to players aged 16-24 and offers £60,000 in prize money.

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.

Mardle: Littler’s underperforming

Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle questioned why Littler entered the World Youth Championship. “I don’t know what he wants to gain from it,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.

“I just don’t see the value time-wise. Because time-management’s everything when you’re playing a lot.”

Littler’s exit from the World Grand Prix could be cause for concern. “I’m never concerned with people losing because this is a hard industry to keep winning. The fact that he was winning all those matches on the trot in majors anyway was ridiculous,” Mardle said.

“It was the way he’s been losing. He’s not been playing that well. This is no offence and no disrespect to Luke Woodhouse. Luke Woodhouse actually said himself that it was a scrappy game.

“It’s the fact that Luke Littler didn’t play well,” Mardle added. “I just think he’s underperforming right now, for whatever reason.

“Bearing in mind we’re humans, we’re not robots, we’re not automatons, we do have off days as well. He’s just having a couple of off days right now.”

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.