20-07-2025
Luke Humphries furious with darts fan after shock defeat in World Matchplay opener
LUKE HUMPHRIES was furious with the 'Blackpool Blower' whistler as he was sent crashing out of the World Matchplay opener.
The defending champ was shown the exit door, losing 10-8 to dashing Dutchman Gian van Veen at the Winter Gardens last night.
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Luke Humphries was furious with a fan as he crashed out of the World Matchplay opener.
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Humphries was eliminated by Gian van Veen
World No1
In the end the power-scoring of Van Veen won the contest.
The Dutch star said: 'It means so much. I think it's the biggest win of my career.
'To be here at the iconic Winter Gardens on my second time. Last year I missed five match darts and before I hit the double four tonight, I missed three match darts. I thought 'here we go again'. Finally I hit that winning double.'
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Van Veen opened in style and broke Humphries' throw in the first leg with double 16.
The flying Dutchman was bang on song and soon doubled his lead.
Finally, the World No1 got on the board with double 10 and it was soon level with double eight.
Then 'Cool Hand' delivered a wonderful 146 with double 16 to go in front for the first time.
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Van Veen wasn't done, he won the next three after the break to retake the lead at 5-3.
Humphries then missed tops and was clearly angry by a whistler in the crowd.
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He then stared out into the crowd after finally winning the leg to level up the match at 5-5.
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But the Dutchman just kept coming back but missed three darts to win it before eventually wrapping it up with double four.
Trailing 3-0, the Scot managed to bust 178 by hitting a 180 in the fourth leg.
In his 20th successive Matchplay, James Wade marched on with a comfortable 10-3 victory over
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