Truth behind darts phenom Luke Littler being ‘banned’ from PDC Dev Tour
Luke Littler won't be able to compete in the first tournament of the PDC Development Tour this weekend following his rapid rise up the rankings.
The tour gets underway on Friday, taking place across three days. It has been the competition which allowed Littler to hone his skills and he's now mixing it with the game's elite players, as he showed at the World Darts Championship. The teenager came out of nowhere to reach the final at Ally Pally.
He's since won the Bahrain Masters, seeing off Michael van Gerwen in the final as he recorded a nine-darter. As a result he's risen to 30th in the rankings on the PDC Order of Merit and, whilst the the Development Tour is open to youth players ages 16 through 23, it doesn't welcome players ranked in the top 32.
As a result the 17-year-old won't be allowed to compete in tournaments on the PDC Development Tour across the next two years. Despite those rules Littler will be allowed to compete in the PDC World Youth Championship, which takes place at the end of the season.
Littler's current focus is on the Premier League, where he's been competing against the world's top players. The teenager and his fellow seven competitors head to Newcastle this week with Littler taking on Peter Wright, a two-time former champion.
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This week the teenager has had to cool comparisons with Phil Taylor, arguably the greatest of all-time, after Michael Smith suggested he could beat his records. "I don't think anyone's beating that record. It's just crazy, crazy to think of me being bigger than Phil," Littler said.
"I just love playing in front of a crowd," he added. "I enjoy trying my best to put on a performance and I know I can play against the best. I've broken into the top 32, so hopefully I'm here for many years to come."
Luke Littler is now competing for major honours on the professional tour (Getty Images)Littler has continued his development by reaching the European Darts Grand Prix in April after seeing off Simon Whitlock, who hit a nine-darter, during Wednesday's qualifying stage.
The teenager won 6-5 before similar last-leg wins over Danny van Trijp and Ian White to take one of the 10 spots up for grabs.
Littler will now head to Sindelfingen in Germany Germany for the European Tour event that will take place from April 19-21.
He is one of several players who had to qualify, the others including Martin Lukeman, Callan Rydz, Keane Barry, Christian Perez, Scott Williams, Stephen Burton, Mickey Mansell, Ritchie Edhouse and Jeffrey Sparidaans.
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