England’s Luke Littler appeared as the youngest ever darts player in the World Cup final. Luke Humphries’ hand got hot during the final and he rose from the loser position to become the champion.
The World Darts Championships ended on Wednesday in London’s Alexandra Palace, born in 2007 Luke Littler to the final loss. In the final, the 16-year-old challenger lost to a compatriot ranked third in the world For Luke Humphries28, with set wins 4–7.
Littler, a teenager, came close to sneaking even a 5-2 lead in the final, but he missed a crucial shot in the double. After that, Humphries first tightened to 4–4 and eventually took five consecutive sets to a convincing victory.
The victory was the 19th in a row for Humphries, who appeared at the World Cup final level for the first time.
The winner of the final earned himself half a million pounds, i.e. around 580,000 euros. The teenage prodigy of the sport received £200,000 for his feat
Littler is the junior world champion, but he entered the tournament as a clear contender from the beginning, as he was only ranked 164th in the world rankings before the World Championships. With a sensational place in the World Championship finals, Littler will rise to the top 32 in the next world rankings.
Littler had knocked down several of the world’s top players on the way to the World Cup gold. In the World Cup semi-final, the top talent beat the 2018 world champion by Rob Cross 6–2 and before that, among other things, a multiple World Cup winner by Raymond van Barneveld.
In the opening matches of the tournament, the audience jokingly yelled at young Littler “you’ve got school in the morning”.
Reigning World Darts Champion Michael Smith fell in this year’s tournament in the quarterfinals.