We’ll luke after ace littler
Humphries: Rivals will protect young star
LUKE HUMPHRIES has revealed darts’ established core of stars will become Luke Littler’s minders to stop chancers exploiting his fame.
The new PDC world champion insists he has no problem with Luke the Nuke enjoying the cult of celebrity after the 17-year-old’s stunning impact on the oche.
Littler (above) was denied back-to-back World Series titles after a pulsating 8-6 defeat by Michael van Gerwen in the Dutch Darts Masters final on Saturday night.
But his stock only rose with the astonishing quality of his performance, and Humphries (right) says the practice room fraternity will rally round Littler to keep unscrupulous opportunists at bay.
Cool Hand Luke was knocked out by Littler in Den Bosch, and the pair meet again on the opening night of the BETMGM Premier League in Cardiff on Thursday night.
He said: “Playing against Luke is not something I’m scared of, or that I’ll have to avoid, because I’ll have to play him many, many times over the next 20 years.
“I’m sure he won’t be nervous about facing me and all the other big players with the Premier League coming up.
“Of course I got the one that means the most to me by winning the World Championship, but that’s in the past now.
“I don’t feel like he’s taken any of the gloss away from my world title – he deserves all the plaudits because he’s achieved something I don’t think we’ll see again.
“My dream wasn’t for everybody to go crazy about me – it was to be world champion, and I’ve fulfilled that dream.
“A lot of people think it bothers me (that Littler gets all the attention) but it doesn’t. I’ve achieved the dream, and whatever comes with that, it doesn’t matter.
“Nothing will ever take that world title away, but Luke’s the star of the show at the moment and that’s just the way it is.
“It’s important that all of the players look after him and no one takes advantage of him or use him too much, because that will happen in life – people will want to use him because of his popularity and stature.
“But all the players will look after him and make sure none of that happens. He’s a great kid and he’s got a bright future.”
Humphries’ 20-match winning streak, spread across four tournaments, came to an end against Gerwyn Price in Bahrain earlier this month.
But he has resolved to restore factory settings and build another long unbeaten run, saying: “You never want the winning streak to be over.
“In the back of my mind I knew it was going to happen because I wasn’t going to carry on winning for the next 25 years.
“It can be a relief. Now my goal is to beat that 20-game streak and make it 21 one day. That’s the feat to beat.”