Luke Humphries showed his true colours with a classy comment to Luke Littler after beating the 16-year-old in the World Darts Championship final. The thrilling clash saw the momentum swap hands on many occasions and when Littler missed the chance to go 5-2 up with one throw at a double, Humphries rallied to a 7-4 victory.
Humphries had already secured his place as the new world No 1 and he has now claimed his first world title. But the 29-year-old reckons Littler will definitely get his hands on the Sid Waddell trophy in the coming years.
Humphries said: “I cannot put into words how great this feels! In the back of my mind throughout today I was thinking ‘get this one now because he [Littler] is going to dominate world darts soon!’
“He’s an incredible player and when I was on the brink of winning he was so relentless. I was really proud of the performance there. He’s an incredible talent and I had to win this one tonight and he’s going to win plenty I’m sure.”
Humphries added: “I’ll draw a lot from this and this will be a moment that will never be forgotten. I don’t want to say that I’ve completed darts but everything that you want on the resume I’ve done now, so now it’s now about motivating yourself to do more and more.
“Now I want to be double world champion and win loads of majors.”
Humphries also backed Littler to be included in the eight players that are selected for the Premier League, with an announcement due on Thursday,
“I’m not just saying this because it will please everyone, but Luke has been an unbelievable talent,” Humphries told Sky Sports. “Not just about the dartboard, he has been fantastic with all the media that has come about with him and he took the defeat so well.
“He said go on and celebrate. Yu will never see never down to a 16-year-old kid like him who is just something else.
“I really hope he’s in the Premier League because, if he don’t want to play in it fair enough, but I think he’d be a pleasure to play alongside him this year. He’s one of the best players in the world, there is no doubt about that.”
