Luke Littler thrashed by Andrew Gilding and defending champion Peter Wright whitewashed by Jermaine Wattimena

Luke Littler and Peter Wright have fallen in quick succession at the European Championship Darts in Dortmund with Andrew Gilding edging past 'The Nuke' in a stunning win.

Littler was one of the best players last week in Prague breaking all records but he has failed to perform in a major again. It is a third consecutive First Round exit in a ranked TV major as 'Goldfinger' sealed a shock 6-4 victory with a 99 average.

Gilding led from the start pinning a 76 checkout and then continued from there with double 10 for 2-0. The misery continued for Littler with Gilding hitting a 79 checkout to go halfway to the finish.

Littler finally got a leg on the board 3-1 and reduced it to 3-2 with a 72 checkout. Littler hit double 10 to make it 3-3. Gilding hit an 83 checkout to make it 4-3. Gilding led at 5-4 on double 20. 'Goldfinger' then sealed the win with a 47 checkout on double 20.

Jermaine Wattimena before that pummelled Peter Wright who is defending champion in a 6-0 win in a remarkable win for 'Machine Gun' as 'Snakebite' miserably averaged just 74.8.

He fell to a limp defeat in his title defence. Wattimena produced a 177 followed by a stunning combination finish of 62 to go 3-0 up. Wright continued to miss chances as Wattimena went 4-0 up. Wright was way back next leg though as the Dutchman hit 55 to go 5-0 up. He produced a superb conclusion to the tie. Wright hit 140 to leave 66 but Wattimena pinned 100 for the win. He faces James Wade, while next up for Gilding it will be Ricardo Pietreczko.