Why James Wade isn't playing at Australian Darts Masters after controversial Luke Littler incident

The reason why James Wade and several other darts stars will not be competing at the Australian Darts Masters has been revealed.

Over the weekend, several of the biggest and best darts players in the world will travel down under to compete in the opening leg of the PDC's World Series of Darts Oceanic double-header in Australia.

A 16-player field including the likes of world number one Luke Humphries, teenage sensation Luke Littler and reigning champion Gerwyn Price competing for silverware in Wollongong.

However, several other major players will not be present for the first leg in Australia or the second in New Zealand next weekend as Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall and Wade are all set to miss out.

Although the absence of the three darts stars will be noticed, the reason why they will not be competing has been revealed ahead of the first match of the tournament on Friday evening.

With Van Gerwen, Aspinall and Wade absent in Australia, Northern Ireland's Josh Rock and Belgium's Mike De Decker will join the field as debutants with Chris Dobey, Damon Heta and fan-favourite Stephen Bunting also making the trip to Australia.

While many fans will be disappointed not to see Van Gerwen, Aspinall and Wade competing, the reason why is simply because they made the decision to opt out of the tournament so they could enjoy some time away from darts.

As the top players in the world competing in dozens of events across the year, the trio saw this as a rare opportunity to enjoy spending some quality time on holiday with their families.

Despite being offered the chance to return to the World Series, Wade decided to take some time off following his brutal loss to Littler in the World Matchplay Darts final.

After going 5-0 up against match favourite Littler, 'The Machine' couldn't hold onto his lead and ultimately lost the match 18-13.

Therefore, Wade has decided to ditch the oche and instead take his his sons to Disneyland Paris.

Posting on Instagram, he said: "Morning all, we have had the best family holiday away at Disneyland Paris. Thanks for such a great time!! We all loved it and it was very well needed to spend some quality time with the family. Also got to wear my new bag."

Meanwhile Van Gerwen decided to party at Tomorrowland in Belgium before taking his family on a trip to Ibiza, with Aspinall taking his family on a special trip to the Dominican Republic.