Luke Littler forced to pull out of major tournament amid 'burnout' concerns

Luke Littler will miss the upcoming Nordic Darts Masters following concerns his ruthless schedule will cause the star to 'burnout'.

The 17-year-old burst onto the scene in 2023 as he progressed all the way to the World Championship final on debut, eventually losing to world number one Luke Humphries.

Littler's success has seen him fast-tracked into the world of professional darts as he has been included in the Premier League line-up, requiring the teenager to play the world's best once a week.

Despite not winning a Premier League night as of yet, he has won titles at the Bahrain Masters, Players Championship and Belgian Open already in 2024.

Littler has been on fire in every competition he has entered, but it has been announced that he will be withdrawing from the Nordic Masters in June due to 'family commitments.'

Newly-crowned UK Open champion Dimitri Van den Bergh will instead take his place in the Danish capital in the summer.

PDC chief executive Matt Porter has revealed that the Littler's schedule is being monitored day-by-day due to his high volume of events.

He told the Love The Darts podcast: “The media demands are high, still getting a lot of requests for high-end content.

"We saw him on The Jonathan Ross Show, he's doing Comic Relief, there are a lot of A-list people that want to speak to Luke which is great for him and great for darts and it's important that is managed properly.

“His manager Martin (Foulds) is excellent, his family are very supportive, we're involved and it's a team effort really just to make sure everything is geared around giving him the optimal opportunity to be the best he can on the oche and just get enough rest and time to himself to be a normal 17-year-old as best he can away from that.

“It's early days, it's hard to think we're only three months into the Luke Littler story but who knows how long it might last?”