Luke Littler lost to Cam Crabtree in the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships.
Crabtree beat Littler 6-5 and will meet Jan Schmidt in the final at Minehead.
Littler came back from 2-0 down to tie the game, but Crabtree eventually called it back.
Littler was playing for the first time since his shock loss to Luke Woodhouse in the opening round of the World Grand Prix.
He was perfect in the group stage at the World Junior Championships, taking three victories. He then walked Lewis Cook, coming back from a 3-1 deficit. Littler then beat David Fidler 6-1 and reached the quarter-finals after defeating Archie Self 6-4.
Littler won 6-2 over Harrison Leigh to reach the final four, but then came up against 23-year-old Crabtree.
Earlier this year, Littler looked like he would be steamrolling ahead of him, but his bid for a clean sweep of all PDC majors in 2026 ended in Amsterdam, where the Brit complained he was repeatedly booed by Dutch supporters.
A dip in form has since been accompanied by surprise defeats at the World Grand Prix and now at the World Junior Championships.
What’s next?
The European Tour season continues with the Swiss Darts Trophy (9-11 October) and the Dutch Darts Championship (16-18 October) before the European Championships take place in Dortmund, Germany from 22-25 October.
Sky Sports remains the home of darts with the Grand Slam of Darts (November 14-22) and the World Darts Championship (December 10-January 3) both live. Stream streaming arrows and more through NOW with no contract.
