Luke Littler dumped out of darts Players Championship in first round after shock defeat to darts cult hero
LUKE LITTLER has been knocked out of the Players Championship 4.
The teen sensation saw his journey come to an abrupt end after a shock first round defeat.
Littler was unable to get the better of James Wade, losing 6-5 to the 40-year-old.
Wade is a cult hero of the darts world as a four-time World Darts Championship semi-finalist and a World Matchplay winner.
The Machine sits some 11 places above Littler in the world rankings, but was still a surprise winner given the youngster’s recent form.
The Nuke has been on a meteoric rise since his run to the World Championship final earlier this year.
But he has struggled to repeat his success in the past few events with the 17-year-old losing in his first round clash with Gerwyn Price during Premier League night three in Glasgow.
Littler also bowed out of the quarter-finals in yesterday’s Players Championship 3 action with a 6-4 loss to Callan Rydz.
Although it was his high-profile Premier League loss to Price that garnered the most attention.
The rising star appeared to thump himself in frustration and mutter under his breath after he threw some sloppy darts to allow Price a chance for the win.
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But he will have another crack at success in the Premier League this week.
Littler joins his seven competitors in Newcastle on Thursday night for night four of the competition.
He will go head to head with Peter Wright in his quarter-final tie with the pair set to take to the oche at 8:10pm.