Should Luke Littler be allowed to participate in World Youth Championship? "If he’s eligible to play, then what’s he doing wrong?"

Luke Littler's participation in the PDC World Youth Championship remains fodder for debate. The only 18-year-old world champion participated in the qualifying rounds of the youth World Championship on Monday, but was stranded in the semifinals after a thrilling 6-5 defeat to Beau Greaves. She will take on Gian van Veen in the final on Nov. 23.

In the podcast Love The Darts, PDC TV commentator Chris Murphy and Sky Sports reporter Polly James went into great detail about whether Littler should have participated at all in a tournament officially intended for talents under 24.

Murphy, who closely followed the darts event at Wigan, does not understand the fuss. "There’s always been this age-old debate about the World Youth Championship and what really counts as “youth” in terms of development. So, based on that alone, no one can really argue against Luke entering, because he’s still a teenager. The issue has always been more about players who are 23 or 24 still competing in it," he said.

According to Murphy, the real answer lies in the way the PDC has set up the tournament. "The PDC is ultimately a promotional company that wants to promote darts, and that story couldn’t have played out any better, could it? Beau Greaves then goes and beats Luke Littler — it’s just full of stories like that."

The commentator stressed that such moments are good for the sport. "Darts is still a growing sport and it’s nowhere near its full potential globally. The more stories like this that come along, the better it is for the game overall. Personally, I’m not against it. If he’s eligible to play, then what’s he doing wrong?"

Moreover, Murphy thinks the criticism of his participation is overblown. "I also don’t really agree with the comments about arrogance. If people saw it that way, then they’ll probably be quite happy he didn’t win — because it just shows the level of the game, doesn’t it? The world champion and world number two — soon to be world number one — goes to the World Youth Championship and doesn’t make the final. That tells you everything about how competitive it is."

Polly James sees it a little differently. The Sky Sports reporter acknowledges that the discussion erupted mainly because of the contrast between Littler's successes and his participation in a youth tournament. "Exactly. I mean, he’s just won one of the hardest PDC majors, right? And then less than 24 hours later, he’s about to go and take titles off these other young players. I think that’s why it got so much attention — because everyone had that same reaction of, “Oh Luke, you can’t go and do that, it’s unfair!”"

Yet James also stressed that Littler was acting entirely within his rights. "But at the end of the day, he’s eligible to play in the World Youth Championship until 2031. He’s absolutely within his rights. And I think his involvement gave that whole tournament a huge boost. A lot of people might not even have realised it was happening otherwise. It’s given it significance and importance — and rightly so. The best players should be there."

Murphy does think the situation warrants a review of the rules. "I don’t think he should be eligible until 2031, to be honest. I’ve got no problem with him playing now, but it’s obvious to everyone that the average age of top professional dart players is coming down. Littler’s clearly the flagbearer for that shift.

"We’re seeing that darts is becoming much more of a young person’s game now, and maybe this is the time to revisit what the “youth” and “development” tours actually mean. Should they really still be going up to age 23 or 24 anymore?"