Luke Littler humbled at £15,000 youth tournament: World champion, 19, suffers surprise semi-final defeat after being told ‘he can only lose’

Published: 14:33 EDT, 5 October 2026 | Updated: 14:35 EDT, 5 October 2026

Luke Littler has once again been knocked out of the World Youth Championship before the final – with his participation in the first place being questioned.

The 19-year-old is no stranger to the big stage, having won back to back senior world titles, picking up £1million for claiming victory last year in the process.

But, despite the world No1’s widespread success on the biggest stage, he has taken it upon himself to still enter the Youth Championship as world champion twice in as many years.

Many thought he had little to gain and much to lose by entering, with defending champion and world No3 Gian van Veen opting not to take part this year.

It seemed a guarantee that Littler would win the title, but he fell short in the semi-finals for a second year in a row, losing 6-5 to Cam Crabtree, who will now go on to face Jan Schmidt in the final.

It comes a year after he lost to Beau Greaves in the semi-final last year – and he may yet enter in the future, with the tournament for those aged 16 to 24. Littler won the title in 2023.

Luke Littler was knocked out of the World Youth Championship at the semi-final stage for the second year in a row

The winner of the tournament will claim just £15,000 – significantly inferior money compared to what Littler is used to.

He won all three games in his group, then beat Lewis Cook, David Fidler, Archie Self and Harrison Leigh to reach the last four.

Some fans seemed to revel in his loss. One wrote on X: ‘UNLUCKYYYYYYYY. Littler was never in a million years going to Minehead.’

Another posted: ‘Luke Littler is officially washed and needs to retire!’

A third added: ‘Hopefully this makes Luke Littler actually practice more, imagine if he practiced everyday how good he could be.’

Littler hit back after receiving stick last year, saying: ‘It’s the same venue as what we professionals play and obviously the likes of Gian van Veen – tour card holder, Keane Barry – tour card holder – both played, but I’m the one that gets it in the neck,’

‘I didn’t win, so a lot of people were happy, but I just thought I’d come and get used to playing first to five, first to six, and that’s what I’ve done today and yesterday.’

The defeat comes a matter of days after he lost against Luke Woodhouse in the opening round of the Grand Prix – and Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle has admitted Littler is off his game right now, as he questioned his reasoning for entering the Youth Championship.

Wayne Mardle was one who questioned Littler’s reason for playing in the competition

‘I don’t know what he wants to gain from it,’ Mardle said prior to the tournament. ‘It doesn’t make any sense to me.

‘I just don’t see the value time-wise. Because time-management’s everything when you’re playing a lot.’

He added after the defeat by Woodhouse: ‘It’s the fact that Luke Littler didn’t play well. I just think he’s underperforming right now, for whatever reason.

‘Bearing in mind we’re humans, we’re not robots, we’re not automatons, we do have off days as well. He’s just having a couple of off days right now.’

The final will take place at the same time as the Players’ Championship final at the end of November. Littler is almost certain not to qualify for that event after opting not to play in almost all of the qualifying events throughout the year.