World No.1 Luke Humphries was outplayed in the final of the World Grand Prix against his regular adversary Luke Littler in Leicester as the teenager won the competition
World No.1 Luke Humphries insisted he was no longer playing for himself during the heavy 6-1 defeat to Luke Littler at the World Grand Prix. The final promised to be a tight contest with the top two in the world facing off.
However, Littler was a cut above from the beginning and raced into a 4-0 lead. During the match, ‘The Nuke’ was one dart away from being only the fourth player in history to hit a nine-darter in the World Grand Prix.
That close miss didn’t fluster him though and he cruised to a 6-1 victory and bagged himself the £120,000 cheque for winning the tournament. Runner-up Humphries was awarded £60,000 but was clearly dejected to lose the contest.
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In his post-match interview on Sky Sports, ‘Cool Hand’ showed his class and explained how he was playing for the crowd towards the end. “It was one of those games. He was so clinical in the first four sets,” Humphries explained.
“Double 16 was my friend in the last three years, but it wasn’t my friend tonight. Very unfortunate.
“When I was 4-0 down I just wanted to give the crowd something. I wasn’t playing for myself, I was playing for the crowd because the game had got away from me.
“It’s hard to take. It’s disappointing because I felt I was going to give him a better game than I did.
“I have to just get better. I have to work harder.
“If I don’t he’ll walk away with it all the time. I need to work harder than I ever have because I want to match him.”
While Humphries vows to get better, there is no rest for Littler. He confirmed post-match that he will be playing in the World Youth Championships tomorrow in Wigan.
Littler said: “It’s true, I’ll go to the world youths tomorrow and just have a bit of fun, see everyone. I don’t think anyone is going to be my friend tomorrow but it’s 20 minutes up the road and I’ll try my best.”
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