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Image source, Getty Images
Luke Littler, 18, was making his World Cup debut
England's Luke Humphries and Luke Littler are out of the World Cup of Darts after suffering a shock defeat by hosts Germany in the last 16.
The German pair of Martin Schindler and tournament debutant Ricardo Pietreczko took advantage of a string of missed doubles and some sloppy play by the top two players in the world to win 8-4 in Frankfurt.
Humphries and Littler, who both became MBEs on Saturday in the King's Birthday Honours, were aiming to lead England to a record-extending sixth World Cup crown - with Humphries partnering Michael Smith to victory last year.
But playing together for the first time, the tournament favourites looked far from comfortable from the start as Germany broke throw in the opening leg, cheered on by a vocal home crowd.
They recovered to level the match at 2-2 but it was Germany who rose to the occasion with some brilliant play, winning the next five legs to leave them on the brink of a famous victory.
England pulled a couple of legs back to give them hope but Pietreczko, nicknamed Pikachu, sealed a 62 checkout in the 12th leg to secure the win.
"We believed in ourselves and we put in a solid performance, and the double 16s that Ricardo threw were so important," said Schindler, the world number 18 of his partner, who is ranked 28th.
"We are delighted to go through. German darts is in good shape right now and we will continue to push forward."
The Netherlands, represented by Danny Noppert and Gian van Veen, advanced with an 8-0 whitewash of Scotland's Gary Anderson and Peter Wright while Wales' two-time winners Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton were 8-2 victors over the Philippines.
Quarter-final draw
Germany v Australia/Argentina
Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland
Wales v Hong Kong
Netherlands v Czech Republic
