The real reason why James Wade walked off stage following his defeat by Luke Littler at the World Matchplay final has been revealed.
Last month, Wade and Littler went head-to-head in the World Matchplay final in Blackpool.
Littler bounced back from 5-0 down to win the final 18-13, securing the much-coveted 'Triple Crown' - having already won the World Championship and the Premier League.
Wade produced a decent display but Littler was simply far too good.
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During the trophy presentation, Wade was criticised after appearing to walk off before Littler lifted the Phil Taylor Trophy.
At the time, it was reported by The Sun that it was unlikely that Wade would receive any sort of sanction from the PDC.
Speaking this week, Sky Sports pundits Michael Bridge and Chris Murphy spoke about Wade's action.
As per Oche 180, Bridge claimed: "I got it clarified that there was no issues with Luke or the crowd or anything like that.
"He was just angry at himself, which is fine, but we would have liked to have heard from him."
Meanwhile, Murphy branded Wade's action as 'disrespectful'.
He began: "I thought it was disrespectful for him not to be on the stage at the end. Whether he does an interview or not is up to him, but not to be there when Luke is receiving the trophy, that is disrespectful.
"Just stand there for a minute and applaud, and then say, ‘I don’t want to talk.’ There’s a serious side with James of course.
"We know about his mental health and his mental illnesses that he suffers with and that he’s trying to combat all the time."
Murphy continued: "But I think he maybe needs a little bit of guidance and support with that.
"If he’s not up to doing a press conference straight after a match, maybe he should be approaching the PDC and asking about facilitating his press conference when he returns for the next round in a better frame of mind."
When is Luke Littler back in action?
The 18-year-old is taking on New Zealand's Haupai Puha on Friday at the Australian Darts Masters, which will take place in Wollongong.
Aside from Littler, the likes of Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting, Luke Humphries and Josh Rock will also be in action.
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts
Marcus Chan