Luke Littler has issued a statement on social media after missing the penultimate Players Championship of 2025.
Littler has enjoyed a stunning season, having won the World Championship, the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix and the UK Open.
In winning his maiden World Grand Prix title, the 18-year-old bagged his seventh major TV tournament since bursting onto the scene at the World Championship less than two years ago.
He was due to play in the ProTour33 at the Robin Park Tennis centre in Wigan.
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But Littler was barred from competing at this afternoon's Players Championship event after getting stuck in traffic and missing the deadline.
At 11:06am, the teenage phenom shared a post on his Instagram story to confirm his withdrawal.
He uploaded an image from the inside of his car, accompanied with the caption: "Back to bed it is, wonder who they will call up," with a laughing face emoji.
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Littler missed the strict 11am signing on registration for the event, meaning he had to forfeit his place in the line-up.
'The Nuke' was set to face a number of the world's leading darts stars on Wednesday, including Luke Humphries, Nathan Aspinall, Stephen Bunting, Rob Cross and Raymond van Barneveld.
However, there will be no punishment for his absence after he already qualified for the Players Championship finals in Minehead.
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He won the last tournament in Wigan earlier this month following his 8-2 victory over Olde Kalter to book his ticket for the finals.
Littler banked £15,000 in the process and guaranteed his place in the Players Championship finals.
After his win over Kalter, he slammed his critics who doubled he would make the top 64.
"I am on social media. Lots of people were saying that I wasn't going to make it," he said. "There you go, I've won today."
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler
Nasir Jabbar