Luke Littler has spoken out against officials after he was forced to sit out of Wednesday’s Players Championship 33.
The reason for Littler’s omission was due to him missing the 11:00 GMT deadline to register after he was stuck in traffic following a serious incident.
As a result, the 18-year-old was denied entry into the event at Wigan's Robin Park Leisure Centre.
It later emerged that a person had died in an incident on the M6, with Littler paying tribute on his Instagram account.
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"Missed registration today for the pro tour, but someone sadly lost their life,” Littler wrote.
“Thinking of everyone."
Littler was allowed to compete on Thursday before sustaining a 6-5 defeat against Canadian Matt Campbell in the last 32.
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Meanwhile, on the same night of the event, world number one Luke Humphries beat Dutchman Martijn Dragt in round one before losing to Rob Owen in the second round – although he still qualified for November’s Players Championship Finals.
World number three Michael van Gerwen, however, will not feature in next month’s tournament as he was outside of the top 64, having missed the last two events.
And after Thursday’s event, Littler accused the tournament’s officials of double standards in a now-deleted Instagram post.
"Not the best day today, but played some decent stuff,” Littler wrote.
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"But really glad to hear from a few of the other players that people have been let in almost half an hour late for a pro tour, but I can't be two minutes late.
"Says a lot, one rule for one and one for another."
The top 64 players will compete in the finals in Minehead, Somerset, from November 21-23.
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Littler already confirmed his place in the finals when he won the Players Championship 32 earlier in October.
The 18-year-old finished as runner-up at the 2024 finals after losing to Humphries. Each Players Championship event has a first prize of £15,000, the runner-up will receive £10,000, with semi-finalists set to receive £5,000, quarter-finalists get £3,500, while £2,500 is available for those losing in the last-16.
2025 Ladbrokes Players Championship Finals
Draw Bracket
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(1) Gerwyn Price v (64) Max Hopp
(32) Rob Cross v (33) Sebastian Bialecki
(16) Martin Schindler v (49) Michael Smith
(17) Niels Zonneveld v (48) Nick Kenny
(8) Stephen Bunting v (57) Ritchie Edhouse
(25) Brendan Dolan v (40) Daryl Gurney
(9) Cameron Menzies v (56) Adam Lipscombe
(24) Bradley Brooks v (41) Martin Lukeman
(4) Ross Smith v (61) Niko Springer
(29) Jeffrey de Graaf v (36) Luke Littler
(13) William O'Connor v (52) Ricardo Pietreczko
(20) Gary Anderson v (45) Mario Vandenbogaerde
(5) Chris Dobey v (60) Keane Barry
(28) Mike De Decker v (37) Cam Crabtree
(12) Jonny Clayton v (53) James Hurrell
(21) Luke Woodhouse v (44) Alan Soutar
(2) Wessel Nijman v (63) Richard Veenstra
(31) Karel Sedlacek v (34) Nathan Aspinall
(15) Danny Noppert v (50) Ricky Evans
(18) Dirk van Duijvenbode v (47) Madars Razma
(7) Gian van Veen v (58) Luke Humphries
(26) Krzysztof Ratajski v (39) Raymond van Barneveld
(10) Josh Rock v (55) Gabriel Clemens
(23) Scott Williams v (42) Ian White
(3) Damon Heta v (62) Justin Hood
(30) Andrew Gilding v (35) Dom Taylor
(14) Joe Cullen v (51) Peter Wright
(19) James Wade v (46) Mickey Mansell
(6) Jermaine Wattimena v (59) Wesley Plaisier
(27) Dave Chisnall v (38) Ryan Joyce
(11) Ryan Searle v (54) Darren Beveridge
(22) Kevin Doets v (43) Callan Rydz
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts, Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen
Luke Davies