Luke Humphries ready to pile misery on Luke Littler with teen at risk of not qualify for Players Championship Final

LUKE HUMPHRIES is determined to ruin Luke Littler’s dream of a clean sweep of TV majors. ‘The Nuke‘, 19, has been the best thrower on the planet this year, winning six of the first 11 premier televised tournaments. Luke Littler has been on an absolute tear this year Credit: PA ‘The Nuke’ has won six of the first 11 major televised tournaments Credit: Getty Though there is a danger he might not qualify for the year-ending Players Championship Finals, the world No.1 still has ambitions to win everything in 2026. Collecting all the top titles in a calendar year is something that neither Phil Taylor nor Michael van Gerwen were able to do at the peak of their powers. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Humphries, now back to the world No.2 spot, is one person who could end Littler’s hopes. ‘Cool Hand’ Luke, 31, won the Players Championship 28 in Leicester on Wednesday in his second event appearance in two months. The 2024 world champion said: “It’s all about putting in the dedication for the rest of the year. “I want to go on and win a major “I don’t want Luke to have the clean sweep – as much as everyone would love to see it. “I’d love to win one and go to the World Championship with a bit of confidence. Most read in Sport SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS List of all-time Darts World Champions BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year. The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions. That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included. 1994 – Dennis Priestley 1995 – Phil Taylor 1996 – Phil Taylor (2) 1997 – Phil Taylor (3) 1998 – Phil Taylor (4) 1999 – Phil Taylor (5) 2000 – Phil Taylor (6) 2001 – Phil Taylor (7) 2002 – Phil Taylor (8) 2003 – John Part 2004 – Phil Taylor (9) 2005 – Phil Taylor (10) 2006 – Phil Taylor (11) 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld 2008 – John Part (2) 2009 – Phil Taylor (12) 2010 – Phil Taylor (13) 2011 – Adrian Lewis 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2) 2013 – Phil Taylor (14) 2014 – Michael van Gerwen 2015 – Gary Anderson 2016 – Gary Anderson (2) 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2) 2018 – Rob Cross 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3) 2020 – Peter Wright 2021 – Gerwyn Price 2022 – Peter Wright (2) 2023 – Michael Smith 2024 – Luke Humphries 2025 – Luke Littler 2026 – Luke Littler (2) Most World Titles 14 – Phil Taylor 3 – Michael van Gerwen 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Luke Littler 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries “I want to push Luke and push everyone else. I want to stay at world No.2 and fight for it. “World No.2 is as good as it gets for now. I’m about £2million away from Luke, who is world No.1 “To catch him, you’d have to win back-to-back World Championships, which would be tough. “He has been the best player over the past 18 months and he deserves that place. Luke Littler is eyeing a clean sweep this year Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK But he won’t get it if Luke Humphries has his way Credit: GETTY “Luke wants to win everything. I want to be the one who tries to stop him. “I’m pleased I have come back from a long hiatus and played well. “My arm almost fell off, it was so tired, I was pushing and pushing. “I hadn’t practised a lot. I came here for practice and to feel normal again.” Comment now