The World Darts Championship final will be played between two Lukes who are complete opposites of each other. The very young Littler (16) fearlessly stands on stage and enjoys pizza and kebab. Humphries, 28, has been in great form recently and has overcome anxiety attacks that could have ended his career in the past.
Four years ago the World Cup finalists threw a few darts at an English pub. One was 12 and still a high school student, and the other was 24 and slightly more obese than he is today. They posed arm in arm in front of the dartboard.
Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler and ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Humphries will decide who the best darts player in the world is tonight at Alexandra Palace in north London. The 16-year-old starter is up against the last top-tier player remaining in the tournament. Carefree snack eating versus young sporty darts professional. Luke versus Luke.
Both Littler and Humphries became junior world champions, but that’s where the comparison ends. Humphries, who has been on the darts scene for years, made the long-awaited breakthrough this season and became the world’s first by taking the last place, while Littler became world famous in darts.
Darts in the diaper
Until two weeks ago, no one knew sixteen-year-old student Luke, who was born in the town of Runcorn and grew up in Warrington on the Mersey River, not far from Liverpool.
There he started playing darts as an eighteen-month-old baby. The video of Littler screaming with laughter while wearing a diaper and throwing darts at 20 in the living room has been liked tens of thousands of times on Instagram this week.
Darts have now made him famous. On the day of the final, the German newspaper Bild and, of course, all the British tabloids dedicated all the portraits to his girlfriend, who is five years older than him. A lot has already been discovered about The Nuke.
Littler is the cigarette-smoking, kebab-eating student who defeated his childhood idol Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16. Littler met his girlfriend, who also loves darts, while playing FIFA on Xbox. The duo has been together for about two months.
Littler is probably over sixteen years old, although his passport lists his year of birth as 2007. The Englishman has a nice darter physique. His diet consists of cheese omelettes for breakfast, pizza for lunch and regular kebab for dinner.
This kebab became a kind of joke around the 16-year-old favorite boy during the World Cup. Following his victory over Christian Kist and Andrew Gilding in the opening rounds of the World Championship, Littler headed to London for a kebab sandwich. After all, at his age, celebrating victory with beer is forbidden.
As a publicity stunt, the kebab shop in question offered Littler free kebabs for life if he won the World Cup. In the meantime, they will be pondering this issue. What seemed unrealistic two weeks ago is now almost real.
But Littler will have no problem paying £7.99 for the kebab. He has already collected over a hundred thousand in prize money at the World Championship. And if he wins the world championship, the youngster will receive £500,000 (about €575,000).
From over 100 kilos to a fit darts player
Then the other Luke. Humphries broke out in a big way last year. The 28-year-old Briton has won at least three major tournaments in 2023: the World Grand Prix, the Darts Grand Slam and the Players Championship Finals.
This placed him third in the world rankings behind current world champion Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen. Humphries has already achieved first place by reaching the World Cup final.
The 2019 junior world champion is finally keeping his promise. Because until this World Cup, he could not go further than the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace.
It’s hard to separate his rise from the healthier lifestyle Humphries has adopted during the coronavirus crisis. Until a few years ago, the Englishman’s weight was also over 100 kilos.
He lost nearly 13 kilos in a short time. Humphries began eating healthier, exercising more and sleeping better. “It’s no coincidence that I didn’t get past the quarter-finals,” Humphries said in an interview with Sky Sports. “The fact that I am fitter and healthier now helps me a lot.”
“As a darts player you work long days and the season is very challenging with tournaments and travel. I was running out of energy during the tournament. Losing weight is an important part of my current success.” The unhealthy version of me wouldn’t have made it to where I am today.
panic attacks
Also, Humphries was dealing with another tormentor. The darts player suffered a panic attack both on and off the field. That’s why he considered quitting darts in 2017.
He woke up in the middle of the night with his heart pounding after beating darts legend Phil Taylor. Humphries was examined by a doctor but his heart was fine.
He gradually learned to deal with his fears better, which included talking openly about them. “Other darts players said they were experiencing the same problems. “I am not the only one, this awareness helped me.”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
