The kebab-loving 16-year-old has taken the public, opponents and experts by storm since the WC began on 15 December, and on Wednesday it was all to be decided with the WC final in darts. Littler played his way up to a solid lead, but faltered towards the end and had to see Luke Humphires become world champion. – He is a fantastic talent. I had to win today. He will win many World Cup golds. I’m sure. He is one of the best players in the world, says Humphries about Littler in the victory interview. – It has been incredible, says Littler. – Second place in my WC debut is absolutely fantastic, he continues. THE FINALISTS: Luke Littler had to settle for silver after meeting Luke Humphries. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP The mood inside Alexandra Palace in London was high when Littler came on stage for the World Cup final. The meeting with Humphries was the first since 2019. Back then, Littler was only 12 years old, narrowly losing to the 12-year-old competitor in a pub tournament. In the reunion, Littler seemed nervous, and the youngster opened the WC final with one of his weakest sets in the whole WC and Humphires took the lead 1-0. Missed the last arrow The world champion was the first to win seven sets, so Littler had plenty of time to fight back. He did it just as well straight away, and equalized at 1-1. Humphries regained the lead to 2-1, but then Littler started with the big play that has been seen so many times in recent weeks. Time and time again he scored 180 points and turned to lead 4-2. BIG GAME: Luke Littler occasionally showed his best game in the World Cup final. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP The teenage sensation could smell the World Cup title, but then it was all about Humphries. From being down 2-4, Humphries went up to 6-4. Thus the final could be decided, and the last set would be the most intense of them all. THE MOMENT: Luke Humphries won his first World Cup gold. Photo: Kin Cheung / AP Humphries opened for Littler to reduce, but the 16-year-old missed by the smallest possible margin on his last dart. Then Humphires seized the opportunity, and became world champion for the first time. From 164th to number two in the world Littler came into the championships ranked 164th in the world, but can return home to Runcorn – a small place between Liverpool and Manchester – with second place in the World Cup. The world ranking is based on how much a player has earned during the year, and Littler had earned £2,500 before the World Cup began. This corresponds to around NOK 30,000, while all the top ten players in the world had earned over NOK 6 million each. The WC silver was awarded with 200,000 pounds – NOK 2.63 million after Wednesday’s rate. Littler was still not unscathed before the championship, and could show three golds in the junior WC. He was therefore considered one of the greatest talents in the world. Now he is second best in the world.
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The prodigy burst from the WC gold – lost final thriller – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
