Luke Littler is unable to compete in a PDC tournament he has won before as a result of his unmatched rise to prominence.
In his second World Darts Championship tournament, the 17-year-old sensation has been on fire again and reached the semi-finals on Wednesday after a 5-2 win over Nathan Aspinall.
Victory over Stephen Bunting will see him reach a second consecutive final against the winner of Michael van Gerwen and Chris Dobey's showdown.
This time around Littler, the favourite for the competition, will be hoping to scoop the £500,000 prize after a narrow defeat to Luke Humphries in last year's event.
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He avenged the loss by beating Humphries to become Premier League champion in a final where he delivered a stunning nine-darter.
Littler is now a fully fledged PDC Tour card holder and his success means he cannot compete in the Development Tour. Although he is firmly in the 16 to 23 age category, he moved up and into the top 32 PDC Order of Merit - which banned him from continuining in the youth ranks for two years.
While competing in the series - he won the PDC World Youth Championship in 2023 - secured him a place in the World Championship off the back of it - as well as claiming a fifth Development Tour title by defeating Cameron Crabtree in the final.
Gian van Veen, who Littler beat in the youth final the year before, won the 2024 event in the absence of 'The Nuke' - who would have been eligible to play but had other commitments.
Although he can resume when he is 19, will likely never play on the Development Tour as the No.4 ranked player focuses on taking the big leagues by storm and being the new face of the sport.
Littler feeling on top of the world
There is immense pressure on Littler's young shoulders but even with some tricky games and setbacks, he has handled it superbly and feels full of confidence going into his semi-final clash with Bunting.
"I felt the best I have in this tournament so far, so hopefully I can regroup and come back again and it can be the same feeling," Littler told Sky Sports after his win over Aspinall.
"We all know the expectation and it's very different from last year, but tonight I felt the greatest and hopefully I can regroup and feel like I did on that stage tomorrow (Thursday)."
I'd probably only say I felt different in the Ryan Meikle game, and then came through against Ian White, obviously the 3-1 lead was crucial against Ian, and then the tough test against Ryan, I think that's what I needed, and then tonight I just settled."
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts
Josh Lawless