Luke Littler was labelled ‘spiteful’ and ‘nasty’ after a remarkable 122 checkout in his World Darts Championship final defeat by Luke Humphries. Littler’s sensational run to the Ally Pally showdown was ended at the final hurdle by first-time champion Humphries.
After a nervy start, the 16-year-old began to find form and raced into a 4-2 lead. Littler stunned Humphries with two triple 18s before checking out with a double seven.
He celebrated by pursing his lips and clenching his first. Speaking on commentary for Sky Sports, Wayne Mardle raved about Littler’s shots, endearingly dubbing the exciting teenager “spiteful, dirty and nasty”.
“That could be the one, that could be the one that breaks the number one’s heart, look at his (Humphries’) face. Look at his face,” Mardle enthused.
“That was just spiteful, that was dirty, that was nasty. That was everything that Luke Littler wanted to do!”
Littler’s lead was short-lived, though, and he failed to become the youngest-ever champion of the tournament. World No 1 Humphries raced back and regained his composure to win 7-4.
“It has been unbelievable. The one negative was I lost too many legs with my throw so Luke could break me,” Littler, who was handed a £200,000 cheque for finishing as the runner-up, reflected to Sky Sports.
“That was the only negative, I just couldn’t hold my own throw and I didn’t win. Every game has been good but that one has just really annoyed me, especially the three missed to keep it going. That’s what the crowd wanted but fair play to Luke. He deserves it.”
Humphries joked that he told himself he had to win this year’s World Darts Championship as he believes Littler will dominate the sport for the years to come. The 28-year-old, nicknamed Cool Hand, paid tribute to his young opponent’s performances in London.
