Luke Littler reveals biggest regret after losing to Luke Humphries in World Darts Championship final

Luke Littler reveals biggest regret after losing to Luke Humphries in World Darts Championship final

WATCH NOW: Luke Littler speaks after his darts final loss

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 04/01/2024

- 09:02

Littler missed the opportunity to win on his debut at the tournament

Luke Littler has revealed his biggest regret following his World Darts Championship final heartbreak.

The teenager was beaten by world No 1 Luke Humphries on Wednesday following an incredible run in his debut tournament at Alexandra Palace.


Littler has had an amazing rise to stardom since beating Christian Kist in the first round in December.

He beat the likes of UK Open champion Andrew Gilding, five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld and 2018 winner Rob Cross on his way to the final.

Luke Littler

Luke Littler has revealed his biggest regret from his final defeat

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But last night's match against Humphries proved to be one step too far for the 16-year-old.

Littler lost the first set and was also 2-1 down before storming into a 4-2 lead.

He had the chance to move 5-2 ahead but missed a double in the crucial leg in the seventh set.

Humphries made him pay and won the next five sets to win the tournament for the first time in his career.

Littler wasn't too hard on himself after the match but admitted he gave Humphries too many opportunities to start sets well against the throw.

He said: "It's sunk in, no one likes losing and I've not really lost much.

"But to lose on that stage you can't be angry at yourself.

"The only thing I was angry with was I was losing a lot of legs on my throw, so Luke would then break, hold and then I'd just be chasing every set really."

Littler has revealed his biggest regret was failing to take out the double that would have put him into a three-set lead.

He added: "Yeah [it was a turning point]. The leg before I took out 122.

"So it was just treble 18s, double seven and then two treble 18s and just take 10 off.

"But just for some reason my mind went blank and I stopped my rhythm to ask and I didn't take it."

Littler finished the tournament as No 32 in the PDC Order of Merit, banking £200,000 after finishing runner-up.

He will now wait to see if he is one of the four wildcards included in the Premier League, which starts in February.

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Luke Littler

Luke Littler missed the chance to go 5-2 up against Luke Humphries

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Humphries will be there and would love to face Littler again.

He said: "I really hope he's in the Premier League because, if he don't want to play in it fair enough, but I think he'd be a pleasure to play alongside this year.

"He's one of the best players in the world, there is no doubt about that.

Luke Humphries and Luke Littler

Luke Humphries wants to see Luke Littler in the Premier League

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"In the back of my mind throughout today I was thinking 'get this one now because he [Littler] is going to dominate world darts soon!'

"I had to win this one tonight and he's going to win plenty I'm sure."

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