Luke Littler reflects on moment that 'really annoyed me' in darts final defeat

03 January 2024 , 22:40

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Luke Littler reflects on moment that 'really annoyed me' in darts final defeat

Luke Littler admitted his last three darts "really annoyed me" as he failed to keep his World Darts Championship final alive in the final set before losing to Luke Humphries.

The 16-year-old was targeting success at Alexandra Palace, which would've made him the tournament's youngest ever winner. He had swept aside the majority of his opponents despite his age and heading to north London as an unknown quantity.

Littler took a 4-2 lead in the final with some stellar darts but then had to watch the World No 1 reel off five straight sets to claim the trophy. The teenager had a chance in the eleventh set to keep the contest going with three darts, only to miss them all with Humphries sealing victory at the first time of asking.

The youngster told Sky Sports : "Don't really know (what I've learned), every game has been really good, but that one really annoyed me, especially the three missed to keep it going, that's what the crowd wanted but fair play to Luke."

Littler went on to say: "Top 32, runner-up on my debut, it is unbelievable. He then joked on his plans this time next year: "I want to win a game, then see what happens after, I've got to the final and I might not get to another in five or ten years, but now I just want to go and win it."

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Humphries has been on a sensational run, which has taken him to the top of the rankings. He won several big tournaments in the lead up to Ally Pally and was favourite to claim victory, but joked that he felt Wednesday night was key with Littler threatening to dominate.

Luke Littler's fairytale ended in the final (Getty Images)

He said: "I honestly could not put into words how great this feels. Honestly in the back of my mind today I thought get this one know because he's going to dominate world darts. When I was on the brink of winning he was still relentless. I was really proud of the performance, felt a bit tired in the middle, but he's an incredible talent and I had to win this one tonight, he's going to win plenty.

Humphries went on to add: "To come back from 4-2, 4-3 4-4, then get in front. To reel off that incredible leg, I can't lie, that double eight my hand was shaking like mad, it was very fortunate.

"I'm world champion and World No 1. There was a time in my life where I was really depressed and didn't think this was going to be it for me, went through a lot of problems, but to be world champion proves a lot about my mental ability."

Samuel Meade