Humphries snatches the World Championship title from teenager Littler
Spectacle, excitement, drama: Luke Humphries wins the World Darts Championship in a high-class final - ending the fairytale run of 16-year-old Luke Littler. After falling behind, Humphries delivers a brilliant final spurt against his English compatriot.
Luke Humphries has put an end to Luke Littler's darts fairytale in London and is world champion for the first time. The future number one defeated the 16-year-old challenger 7:4 in a thrilling final on Wednesday evening and can look forward to prize money of 500,000 pounds (just under 600,000 euros) after the biggest success of his career to date.
Humphries (28 years old) thus prevented Littler from becoming the youngest champion in history and can look forward to the 25-kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy in addition to the hefty cheque and the crown. In recent days, Littler's story has been reminiscent of that of the young Boris Becker, who sensationally won the prestigious tennis tournament at Wimbledon at the age of 17. However, the crowning glory for Littler never came. This was mainly because Humphries held his nerve and managed significantly more shots with 180 points than his opponent.
Although Littler came to the Ally Pally as Junior World Champion, such a run of success, including a place in the final, seemed completely unrealistic beforehand. Littler fueled the hype with victories over former world champion Raymond van Barneveld (4:1) and Rob Cross (6:2). The defeat in the final is now a damper, but Humphries, clearly the best player of 2023, was also the favorite going into the important tournament at Alexandra Palace.
Beckham writes Littler
Littler had never been in danger at the World Cup so far. "Everywhere Luke Littler plays, he delivers," said the super talent confidently about himself. Up until the final, "nothing was difficult" for him. It was a completely different story against Humphries. The hype surrounding the youngster took on gigantic proportions over the past few days and was reminiscent of the farewell to record-breaking world champion Phil Taylor in January 2018.
More and more media came to London and TV ratings in the UK skyrocketed. Experts compared him to the young Lionel Messi. Fans rewrote "Wonderland", otherwise sung after the legend Taylor, to Littler. And soccer icon David Beckham congratulated him personally via a message, as the youngster proudly told Sport1 before the final.
Humphries smiles at the youngster's bravado
In the last World Cup final for 66-year-old cult referee Russ Bray, "The Nuke", as Littler is known, really did show nerves - right in the opening phase. The first set was quickly gone. The display prominently showed how the man from near Liverpool took twelve shots without a triple.
Humphries, on the other hand, got off to a flawless start. But the youngster got stronger and drew attention to himself with two strong finishes (142 and 120). In the dynamic match, in which the commercial breaks lasted as long as the sets, the score was 2:2.
The favorite had to smile time and again at his young opponent's enormous coolness. While Humphries came to London as a title contender after winning titles at the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals, Littler was considered an outsider at best.
That didn't stop him from putting in a strong performance in front of 3,000 spectators in the biggest match of his young career. Spurred on by the euphoric crowd, the game was close and exciting, with a high tempo throughout. Bray's grating voice loudly called out his distinctive "Onehundredandeighty". And Humphries turned on the heat after 2:4 and triumphed.
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Luke Humphries' victory at the World Darts Championships denied Luke Littler the opportunity to break the record as the youngest champion, with Humphries claiming the title and the 25-kilogram Sid Waddell Trophy. In the build-up to the final, Littler's fairytale run captured the hearts of many, and he even received a congratulatory message from soccer icon David Beckham.
Humphries' success at the World Championships saw him add the prestigious title to his previous wins at the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, and the Players Championship Finals, solidifying his place as one of the best players of 2023.
Source: www.ntv.de
