Luke Littler responded to a sexist comment from a fan after losing to female darts player Beau Greaves.
Greaves, 21, averaged 105 in a brilliant win over world champion Littler in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship.
The victory saw Greaves, the best female player in the world, become the first woman to reach the final of the event.
Littler played in the tournament in Wigan less than 24 hours after winning the World Grand Prix, thrashing rival and former world champion Luke Humphries 6-1 in the final.
The 18-year-old, the youngest world darts champion in history, breezed through his three matches in the round-robin stage of the event but was then knocked out by Greaves in the semi-final.
Littler averaged a staggering 107 in the match but lost a final-leg decider toexit a tournament he insisted he was determined to win.
Three-time WDF women’s world champion Greaves, who is set to accept a PDC Tour card next year, will face defending champion Gian van Veen in next month’s final.
Reacting to the defeat, ‘The Nuke’ said on Instagram: ‘Fair play to Beau. All the best in Minehead. Some talent.’
Littler also shut down a sexist comment from one fan who said: ‘We don’t need this. Women should not compete with men, no matter how good they are.’
The record-breaking darts star, who is set to defend his world title at Alexandra Palace in December, replied: ‘Are you high?’
Players aged between 16 and 24 are allowed to compete in the World Youth Championship, which Littler won in 2023 at the age of 16.
Greaves is not the first female player to make waves in the world of darts, with Fallon Sherrock enjoying a memorable run at the World Championships in 2019.
A winner of 19 women’s titles, ‘The Queen of the Palace’ reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam in 2021, eventually losing to former world champion Peter Wright.
Littler’s World Grand Prix win was the latest in his incredible trophy cabinet which also includes the World Championship, World Matchplay, Premier League, UK Open, Grand Slam and World Series.
‘Luke Littler has got it all,’ Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle said. ‘We all know he’s got it all, he knows he’s got it all and the world No. 1 [Humphries] knows he’s got it all.
‘What I admire about him is the way that he just says it’s another one ticked off. And when he was talking about being world No 1, he says “I’ll get there”.
‘There is no doubt in his mind about what he can achieve. There’s no ceiling to it. Everything he does or seemingly wants to do, he does achieve in the end.
‘It is ridiculous him being 18, but you can actually forget that now, because it’s like it doesn’t seem to matter that he’s so young.
“He’s still new to the sport, but he’s not new to winning. He’s not new to all these kind of things that are happening to him.
‘More has happened to him, positively, in his career than ever happened in mine and many other players’ careers.
‘He’s done so much more than those that have thrown for 40 years. He is a generational talent. He’s amazing, and he dismantled the world No 1. That’s how good he is.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.