Luke Humphries produced a statement 11-7 win in the Players Championship Finals against teenage sensation Luke Littler, winning the competition for the second time in as many years.

The fantastic rivalry between Littler and Humphries didn’t disappoint as the pair met in another televised final, but both players struggled out of the traps in the first session. Humphries capitalised on Littler’s missed doubles to lead 4-1 after the first five legs. Littler averaged only 80, but Humphries was near the 87 mark.

However, as has been proven on many occasions, the 17-year-old sensation announced himself into the match as he chucked in a magical 170 and 164 checkout to reduce the deficit. The momentum shifted slightly, leading to Humphries leading only 6-5.

The standard produced from the start of the second interval increased to ridiculous heights, but the Berkshire-born talent responded with a 13-darter to restore a two-leg lead, but Littler managed to claw it back to 8-7 down before the final advertisement break thanks to another spellbinding 100+ checkout.

Humphries stormed out onto the oche heading in the final session and produced a comfortable three leg spell to win and pocket the £120,000 and pick up another televised major.

Quarter-Finals (Best of 19 legs)

Mike De Decker 3-10 Luke Littler

Scott Williams 3-10 Ross Smith

Connor Scutt 9-10 Dirk van Duijvenbode

Luke Humphries 10-5 Ryan Joyce

Semi-Finals (Best of 21 legs)

Luke Littler 11-9 Ross Smith

Dirk van Duijvenbode 8-11 Luke Humphries

Final (Best of 21 legs)

Luke Littler 7-11 Luke Humphries

Gian van Veen lifts World Youth Championship title

Gian van Veen made amends for his loss in the 2023 World Youth Championship final against Littler by winning this round after surviving five match darts.

The young prodigy recovered from 5-3 down against Jurjen van der Velde to win in a last-leg decider, becoming the first Dutch World Youth Champion in the process.

Van der Velde did his utmost to try to halt Van Veen and was firing on all cylinders throughout the match, establishing a 2-0 and 5-3 lead in the first to six legs contest.

However, a motivated Van Veen aimed to do better than his near miss 12 months ago and cement himself in the history books.

Both times, Van Veen recovered to 2-2 and 5-5 before completing the comeback in the final leg to lift the biggest youth title in world darts.