Why is Luke Littler not playing for England at World Cup of Darts?
Luke Littler has missed out on the chance to play for England at the World Cup of Darts.
Luke Littler was not selected to play for England at the World Cup of Darts despite his exceptional first year on the professional circuit. The Premier League champion has missed out on the tournament due to a rule that made it extremely hard for a rookie to take part.
Littler rose to prominence at the World Darts Championship last winter, losing to Luke Humphries in the final at Alexandra Palace. The 17-year-old has since won titles in Bahrain, Poland, Belgium and Austria.
He then capped a remarkable six months by beating Humphries to win his maiden Premier League Darts in May.
But Humphries has beaten Littler to being selected to play for England at the World Cup of Darts. The Leeds-born world champion will be partnered by Michael Smith at the tournament.
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Selection for the tournament is decided by the two best-ranked players for each nation in the PDC’s Order of Merit. Humphries is top of the leaderboard, while Smith is third.
The Order of Merit is decided by the total prize money won by a player over a two-year period. Due to Littler’s relative inexperience on the PDC tour, he is only 25th in the rankings.
Peter Wright insists Littler will be happy to get some time off. "To be honest, I think he's enjoying the time off and relaxing," Wright said.
"He keeps winning tournaments. It's always picked by the rankings and if you want to be playing for your country, you need to get yourself up the rankings. You can't just get invites personally. That's the rules."
The PDC and World Cup of Darts broadcaster Sky Sports were even warned of a boycott if they changed the tournament’s rules to ensure Littler played.
“Sky Sports and the PDC could change the World Cup of Darts selection process to get Luke Littler in this summer and they wouldn’t get much stick for it,” darts legend Dennis Priestley told BestAnonymousCasinos.
“It would be the union who get the blame for letting them change the rules and I think it would cause a lot of upset for the players.”
He added: “They could even boycott if there is a late change of the regulations. It reminds me of them trying to fast-track Raymond van Barneveld into the Premier League when he moved over [from the BDO].”
