Littler skips the Netherlands, Munyua books another World Championship ticket & concern over van Duijvenbode's

Darts news from 21 September 2026: Littler withdraws in Den Bosch, Munyua qualifies for the World Championship, van der Voort confirms problems for van Duijvenbode.

Today's main story: Littler skips the Netherlands

Darts Monday belongs to a withdrawal. Luke Littler is no longer on the entry list for Players Championships 29 and 30 in Den Bosch. The world number one had entered the ProTour double-header at the Maaspoort – today he pulled his entry. And it did not stop there: his name is also missing from the field of the Dutch Darts Championship in Maastricht, a European Tour event. Three tournaments in the Netherlands, three times no Littler.

The sporting arithmetic behind it is quickly done – and it hits the dominant player of this season of all people. For the Players Championship Finals in Minehead, the top 64 of the ProTour Order of Merit qualify, a ranking that counts prize money from Pro Tour tournaments only. Littler sits in 125th place there, around 16,750 pounds behind the last qualifying spot. Anyone who skips the Pro Tour collects nothing there: by passing on Den Bosch, Minehead is practically gone for the reigning world champion. A world champion who simply does not reach a major – that is the most remarkable line of this darts Monday.

Neither the PDC nor Littler himself gave an official reason. Instead, the same sentence appears throughout Monday's reports: “There's no point in me travelling and wasting my time while I'm being booed. I just want to play my darts.” And asked whether he might avoid Dutch European Tour events in future just as he already does the German ones, the answer was: “100 per cent.” Anyone reading today's entry list gets that announcement delivered in practice.

The debate: may a world champion skip entire countries?

That the best player in the world is partly withdrawing from one of the most important darts countries of all is material for a fundamental dispute – and it ran right through the specialist media today. The core question: is a world champion who strikes entire nations from his calendar still an ambassador for his sport? Or is he first and foremost a businessman in his own cause who picks where he works?

Raymond van Barneveld chose the conciliatory tone in his assessment – and shifted the discussion away from the crowd towards the workload. “It's the pressure,” said the Dutchman. “Everyone is talking about it: can Littler keep this up all year and win all the big majors? That creates enormous pressure.” Littler is currently the best player in the world, according to Barneveld – but: “Everyone is fallible.” You can read that as a defence, you can also read it as a warning: anyone under permanent observation for perfection for twelve months pays a price somewhere. In this case apparently in the form of a trimmed-down travel plan.

The asymmetry is remarkable: a tournament calendar that has to do without the best player in the world loses spectators, attention and bargaining power. Littler himself mainly loses ranking points that he does not need at the big invitational tournaments anyway. The Pro Tour is the foundation of the calendar for those hundred players who cannot afford withdrawals – for the world number one it has apparently become one option among several.

Concern over van Duijvenbode: van der Voort confirms problems in the throwing hand

The second piece of news with consequences for the coming weeks came from the Dutch podcast scene. Vincent van der Voort confirmed today that Dirk van Duijvenbode is struggling with physical problems: the Dutchman has recently had pain in his throwing hand, with almost every dart. By now he apparently knows where it comes from.

“There is something that isn't right and has to be solved,” said van der Voort. “It simply has to be fixed.” There is reassurance in so far as the matter is not rated as serious – it still needs treatment. Van der Voort was convinced that his compatriot knows the right people to get it under control at short notice.

The time pressure is real, because the next major is just around the corner: at the World Grand Prix in Leicester, an all-Dutch duel with Gian van Veen awaits van Duijvenbode straight away. The double-in format of all things forgives uncertainty in the throwing arm even less than any other – anyone who does not hit the first Double cleanly loses Legs they would statistically have won long ago. A hand that twinges with every dart is therefore not a side issue in Leicester, but potentially the whole tournament.

Story of the day: Munyua is off to the Ally Pally again

The nicest news of this Monday comes not from Den Bosch or Leicester, but from Nairobi. Today it emerged that David Munyua has qualified for the PDC World Championship again – for the second time in a row. In the final of the African qualifier the Kenyan came through 8:7 against Evans Njuguna, decided in the last Leg.

Munyua is a vet by profession, 30 years old, and he has long been a cult figure at the Alexandra Palace. On his debut he turned around a 0:2 set deficit against Mike De Decker and knocked a major champion out of the tournament – a result that is still counted among the biggest World Championship sensations of recent history. That he has now worked his way through qualifying again with Averages in the low 80s does not make it any smaller, it explains it: Munyua wins matches because he wins the tight finishes. Africa's best-known darts player is in the field again when they play in London.

MODUS Super Series: Robertson wins the day without a defeat

In the MODUS Super Series, Scott Robertson delivered a flawless performance: five matches, five wins, giving up just nine Legs. The opener against Steve West was still as close as it gets at 4:3, after that it became more assured from match to match – right up to the closing 4:0 against Francesco Basili. Second in the day's standings was Scott Taylor with four wins; his only defeat came against Robertson of all people (1:4).

S. West 3:4 S. Robertson
C. Puleo 2:4 S. Winder
F. Basili 3:4 S. Taylor
S. Robertson 4:3 C. Puleo
S. Taylor 4:3 S. West
S. Winder 0:4 F. Basili
S. Robertson 4:1 S. Taylor
C. Puleo 4:3 F. Basili
S. West 4:2 S. Winder
S. Taylor 4:3 C. Puleo
S. Winder 2:4 S. Robertson
F. Basili 2:4 S. West
S. Winder 2:4 S. Taylor
S. West 4:3 C. Puleo
S. Robertson 4:0 F. Basili

That leaves the day's standings at 5-0 for Robertson, 4-1 for Taylor and 3-2 for West. Puleo, Basili and Winder each managed one win. We analyse the day in detail in a separate tournament article.

Darts in Germany

For German fans, Littler's withdrawal comes with a bitter subclause. The world champion explicitly justifies his stance towards the Netherlands with a comparison: just as he already avoids German European Tour events, he now does the same with the Dutch ones. Anyone who had hoped to see the best player in the world in a German arena again soon gets rather the opposite confirmed today – the logic of withdrawal is being extended, not taken back.

At least there is one German story with a positive sign: Daniel Klose, 46, from Bechhofen, is in the 128-player fields of Players Championships 29 and 30 as a Challenge Tour reserve. “Dan The Man” secured the reserve spot through his position on the Challenge Tour and now meets a field in which, alongside Littler, several heavyweights are missing. Not entered from a German point of view: Niko Springer. With 150,000 pounds in prize money each and 15,000 pounds for the winner, that is a stage a reserve does not get to choose – you take it.

What's coming up tomorrow

From Tuesday lunchtime, play starts at the Maaspoort in Den Bosch: Players Championship 29 opens the ProTour double-header with 128 players, 150,000 pounds in prize money and 15,000 pounds for the tournament winner; Players Championship 30 follows immediately afterwards at the same venue. For everyone still fighting for World Championship places and the last tickets for Minehead, these are two of the most valuable days of the rest of the year – all the more so as the field has been noticeably thinned out by prominent withdrawals. At the same time, the notifications to all applicants in the World Championship ticket draw for the Alexandra Palace start going out today.