Should there be age or standard restrictions on the World Youth Championship? Paul Nicholson gives his verdict after Luke Littler entered the competition

When Luke Littler broke the news that he'd be competing in the World Youth Championship in Wigan a day after winning his seventh major title at the World Grand Prix, it raised a lot of eyebrows.

Many fans questioned whether such an established star in the senior ranks should be 'allowed' to enter - or whether he should have simply ignored the event and gracefully given other rising talents in the sport a much better chance of winning the title.

However, while the age limit remains as high as 24 - and that's another issue I'll come to later on in this column - Littler is eligible to compete in this tournament for many years to come.

Dimitri Van den Bergh holds the record for most youth titles with two having gone back-to-back in 2017 and 2018, with the last of those coming at 24, while Luke Humphries was the same age a year later when he took home the trophy.

Even then people thought they were perhaps too 'old' to be involved and that's bound to happen when more and more of the game's young stars become good enough to mix it with the seniors on the PDC circuit.

Littler was just being greedy for titles, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It wasn't about the money for Littler because he could earn much more at an exhibition than the £12,000 on offer for winning the world youth title.

Beating his peers whom he's grown up with on the youth circuit is his motivation and challenge.

But as it turned out, his plan backfired against the incredible Beau Greaves, who edged an incredible semi-final 6-5 to firmly underline just why we expect her to enjoy a remarkable record breaking future at the highest level.

When you think about it, Littler didn't have too much to gain by being in that room. But he did have a lot of pride to lose. There was a lot of pressure on him to reach the final and it was pressure he didn't 'need'.

So it just goes to show how hungry he is to put himself in these kind of situations, and even when he lost to Greaves, he paid her a lovely tribute on social media afterwards.

What 'should' the age limit be?

In years gone by, most dart players wouldn't become a genuine contender for senior titles until well into their 20s, 30s and older, so anyone in their teenage years or early 20s would definitely be considered a 'youth player' in this sport.

Don't forget, traditionally, you wouldn't probably start joining leagues and play competitively until you were old enough to go to the pub or club. However, darts has obviously changed drastically in recent times to the point that you have young kids joining academies and showing incredible potential.

And this was before the Littler effect. In the coming years we're going to see more and more youngsters joining the pro ranks before they turn 20.Rod Harrington deserves a lot of praise for getting this tournament up and running back in 2011 and his legacy behind this should never be forgotten, because it's helped a number of star players come through.

We've seen the likes of Michael van Gerwen, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Van den Bergh, Humphries, Max Hopp, Martin Schindler, Josh Rock and Littler reach the final of this event while defending champion Gian van Veen will bid for back-to-back titles against Greaves in Minehead next month.

It's all very well saying in this era that it 'should' be under 21s but not all of these players we see on the Development Tour start at the age of 12. They don't start at the age of 16.

Some of them start at the age of 19 or 20 so they just need that little bit of extra time to get experience against these bigger named people. Therefore I believe the age group for Development Tour and World Youth Championship is right, as things stand.

But I think we're getting to the point where a conversation has to happen about dropping it because of this incredible impact that the JDC is having for junior darts.

And they're ready for the development to work quicker than ever before.The PDC are going to have a big headache with this and they'll need to approach this very carefully.

Should PDC Tour Card holders be banned from the World Youth Championship?

That sounds a logical enough suggestion - but only if nobody on the Development Tour was 'professional'.

Most of them aren't, but some players like Cam Crabtree, who won the Development Tour rankings for 2025 has been professional for at least a couple years because playing darts is how he makes his living.

We're going to see more of that in the coming years, with kids leaving school at 16 and trying to earn a living playing darts on the Development Tour and other avenues until they've won a Tour Card.

This is why putting in restrictions such as only being able to compete in the World Youth Championship if you don't have a Tour Card could cause problems, because it would still allow other 'professionals' to enter.I do think we're very lucky to have this problem.

There's so many talented youngsters out there beyond Littler, van Veen and of course Greaves, that this tournament is getting more and more exciting and competitive with every passing year.

Why wouldn't you want the best youth players competing just because they've reached a higher standard.If we restricted those stars, then whoever wins the World Youth Championship would feel like there's an asterisk next to their name.

The champion wants to feel like they're the best in their age group. Not just the best out of those who were allowed to compete.This has already been the best World Youth Championship we've ever had and it's just a shame none of the action was broadcasted.

Thankfully the final between Greaves and Van Veen will be live on ITV4 just before the climax to the Players Championship Finals, but I'm sure in future we'll see coverage from the early rounds given the talent on display.

Darts: Related content

• Is £1million for the world champion too much?
• 2025 Premier League Season
• 2025 PDC Darts Calendar
• How Littler won £1million in one season
• Should there be a Ryder Cup of Darts?
• What's easier, a nine-darter or a 147?
• How legends would fare today
• Troubles and triumphs
• Tournament ideas for darts
• 'What If' moments in darts
• Agony of missed match darts
• Good, Bad, Ugly: Nicholson on darts shirts
• Referees in darts
• Calling the shots in darts
• Weird actions in darts
• Hidden talents in darts
• Superstitions in darts
• Routes to glory
• Paul Nicholson's five darts drills
• Paul Nicholson's five mental tips
• Paul Nicholson's five practice games
• Worst losers in darts
• World number ones in darts
• Best players never to be number one
• Five characters in darts
• Do averages lie?
• Greatest Tournaments Ever
• Paul Nicholson's Ally Pally tales
• Watch all the Ally Pally nine-darters
• Players everyone hates to face
• Players everyone loves to face
• How to make it as a pro?
• How much money do players earn?
• Greatest darts rivalries
• Rivalries to cherish
• Be canny with counting
• Phil Taylor's greatest display
• Greatest World Championship displays
• World Cup of Great Darts performances