Category: Darts

• Littler defeats Luke Humphries 16-11 in final

• Teenager seals top spot with semi-final win

Luke Littler celebrated becoming the world No 1 by winning the Grand Slam of Darts. The 18-year-old’s ascent to the top of the rankings was confirmed with his semi-final win against Danny Noppert earlier on Sunday.

That victory set up another titanic battle in the final with his great rival Luke Humphries, who he replaced at the summit. Littler flexed his muscles with a 16-11 triumph to become just the fourth man to defend the title in Wolverhampton.

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• World champion out of Players Championship in Wigan

• Littler appeared to miss 11am registration deadline

Luke Littler missed Wednesday’s Players Championship event in Wigan after a traffic jam caused him to be late for registration.

It is understood the 18-year-old was stuck in road congestion and did not arrive in time for the strict 11am deadline. The reigning world champion has already qualified for next month’s finals in Minehead, after winning Players Championship 32 earlier this month.

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• Greaves edges out world champion 6-5 in semi-final

• She will now face Gian van Veen in November finale

Beau Greaves won a thrilling last-leg decider to shock Luke Littler 6-5 in the semi-finals of the PDC world youth championship in Wigan.

Greaves, a three-time WDF women’s world champion who has secured a PDC Tour card for the 2026-27 season, had gone 2-1 up in the semi-final. Littler responded with the next three legs, the PDC world champion competing the day after defeating rival Luke Humphries 6-1 in the World Grand Prix final in Leicester.

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A new study shows twitches and involuntary movements between throws can lead to things going wrong at the oche

Sunday night in Leicester. A study in contrast. At one point Luke Humphries’s eyes widen as another 22g Red Dragon dart flies past double 16. He shakes his head. Looks down. Bites his lip. Meanwhile, the automaton beside him powers on. Until the moment Luke Littler is pumping his fists, revelling in his 6-1 victory and a first World Grand Prix title.

Littler’s extraordinary immunity to pressure is fast reaching the stage where even peak-era Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal would be taking notes. In his quarter-final against Gerwyn Price, Littler looked down and out at times until he hit a 156 checkout to clinch the match. Against Humphries, it didn’t matter that his three-dart average was more than a point lower as he won five of his six sets in final-leg deciders.

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• Teenager beats world No 1 6-1 in little more than an hour

• Littler secures World Grand Prix title for the first time

Luke Littler swept aside Luke Humphries to win a first World Grand Prix title in Leicester.

Humphries had looked the more impressive in making it through to the final, but Littler was superb in the clutch moments as he raced to a 6-1 victory.

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• Littler wins his first World Series event of year

• ‘It’s another one I can tick off,’ says world No 1

World champion Luke Littler demonstrated his phenomenal teenage talent in Wollongong by winning the star-studded Australian Darts Masters. A year after being humbled in the final of the biggest invitation event to be played in Australia, the 18-year-old this time made no mistake, winning all three of his matches convincingly on Saturday night to lift yet another big title.

He also crushed Damon Heta’s homecoming dream as he hammered Australia’s top player, the world No 10, in the quarter-finals. After defeating Heta 6-3 in the last eight and Stephen Bunting 7-4 in the semis, Littler outplayed Belgian Mike de Decker to win the final 8-4.

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• 18-year-old becomes fifth player to win PDC triple crown

• Says Phil Taylor trophy ‘means absolutely everything’

Luke Littler won his first World Matchplay crown as James Wade’s run in Blackpool fell at the final hurdle. Littler claimed a hard-fought 18-13 victory at the Winter Gardens to become the fifth player to win the PDC triple crown – Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Luke Humphries having also won World Championship, Matchplay and Premier League titles.

Wade was in his seventh Matchplay final 18 years on from his solitary success in 2007, which came six months after Littler was born. Littler’s scoring power in a high-quality contest proved decisive – he hit 17 180s to Wade’s six in averaging 107 – and set a new tournament record of 64 maximums, beating Adrian Lewis’ previous best of 56.

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• Welshman says ‘team ethic didn’t show with England’

• Defending champions booed in ‘rubbish’ performance

Gerwyn Price said the lack of unity shown by Luke Littler and Luke Humphries contributed towards England’s “rubbish” performance at the World Cup of Darts.

Price and his Welsh compatriot Jonny Clayton finished runners-up in Frankfurt after losing a last-leg shootout against the Northern Irish duo Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney.

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• World’s top two players suffer shock defeat

• German duo ease to 8-4 victory in Frankfurt

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were left reeling as England’s hopes of retaining the World Cup of Darts were torn apart by Germany. The world’s top two players slipped to an 8-4 second round defeat at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, where Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko made the most of the backing of a partisan home crowd to seal a comprehensive victory.

Littler and Humphries, who both received MBEs in King Charles’s birthday honours, were made to pay for missed doubles, with the 18-year-old in particular turning in an off-colour display in a country where he has endured previous disappointments.

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• World No 1 triumphs 11-8 despite wobbly start

• Elated Humphries hails ‘the title I was missing’

There have been seminal moments in time on darts’ journey: the highs and the lows. But there have always been breakthrough moments that have opened the door for a bigger future and as Luke Humphries lifted the Premier League Darts trophy aloft inside a sold-out O2, it was not unreasonable to assume where this game heads next.

In the 1980s, it was Eric Bristow’s pomp and circumstance while dominating in the slightly more low-key venues of Stoke’s Jollees Cabaret Club and the Lakeside. Then it was Phil Taylor who dominated the PDC’s formative years and, yes, while he had the odd rival along the way, it is a fair argument that the 16-time world champion single-handedly broke down barriers for the sport.

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