Luke Littler (right) and Luke Humphries (Photo by Taylor Lanning/PDC)
England’s Luke Littler and Luke Humphries bagged their first win as a pair at the World Cup of Darts, as reigning champions Northern Ireland kicked off their title defence by edging past Belgium last night.
Day Three of the global darting festival included a colossal day of last 16 action at the Eissporthalle, as the knockout stage got underway and the four top seeded teams entered the fray.
Top seed England began their title bid with a hard-fought 8-5 victory over Spain, defying a stellar performance from Spanish pair Cristo Reyes and Jose Justicia, with the former producing the best individual average in the match of 102.48.
Despite Littler and Humphries racing into a 3-0 lead, Spain retaliated with a three-leg burst of their own to threaten a stunning upset.
Nevertheless, the world number one and two pulled together to burst into a 7-4 lead, and although five match darts were spurned in the 12th leg, Littler sealed victory with an 89 outshot on double five.
“We knew we weren’t going to average what we did in the Premier League,” assessed Humphries, with the England duo averaging just over 94, while Spain averaged 96.13.
“I’m proud of the way we fought back. It wasn’t the worst performance in the world, but it wasn’t our best.
“Just get through that first game, and then tomorrow it feels like we can relax a little bit and play how we know we can.”
The English duo – who notably faced a shock 8-4 defeat to Germany in last year’s round two tie – secured their first victory on the World Cup stage despite a patchy display on the doubles.
The Premier League finalists missed 20 darts at double across the contest, but scoring averages of 110.30 and 109.20 from Littler and Humphries respectively got them over the line.
“We just wanted to win that game, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” added Littler.
“We know we can win on this stage together now, so tomorrow afternoon we can just throw our darts and do what we do.”
England will face last year’s finalists Wales in the quarter-finals, after Jonny Clayton and Nick Kenny surged to an 8-5 victory over USA’s Adam Sevada and Stowe Buntz.
Clayton inspired his nation to victory, taking out two 141 checkouts across the contest, before he duly wrapped up the match alongside Kenny with a 15-darter.
“It’s a pity there wasn’t two 180s before either 141 for a nine-darter!” jibed Clayton, who had an individual average just shy of a ton in the match.
“They were coming back into that game, and I was thinking, right, we’re in trouble here! Thank God we both found something and got the job done.
“They didn’t perform last year, England – We don’t mind who we play, we’re in the quarters.”
Reigning champions Northern Ireland survived a scare to pip Belgium in a last-leg decider, winning six of the last eight legs to kick-start their title defence.
Mike De Decker and Dimitri Van den Bergh struck five 180s between them to put Belgium ahead 5-2, before Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney rallied, with the latter taking out a 102 kill to knock out the Belgians in dramatic fashion.
“At no stage did we think we were beaten,” insisted Gurney, as Northern Ireland will take on Latvia in the last eight.
“Until the very last throw, we still believed we could win that game, and we weren’t in front until we won it.
“That tells you we’re champions. We’re here to win, we’re trying to go back-to-back, but now this game is over, we start afresh tomorrow!”
Madars Razma and Valters Melderis edged past France in a thrilling last-leg decider to propel Latvia into the quarter-finals for the first time in the nation’s history.
The Latvian pair took out a 110 checkout each in consecutive legs to lead 6-5, and although France took the match to a deciding leg, Razma dispatched an accidental double-double finish to break new ground for Latvia.
Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen survived a scare against Sweden in their opening match as a pair for the Netherlands, winning 8-6 to set-up a quarter-final showdown with Germany.
The Dutch duo stormed to a 3-0 lead, only for Jeffrey de Graaf and Oskar Lukasiak to rattle off four legs straight, with Lukasiak taking out a majestic 155 to take the lead.
Despite a tense middle-game, the world number three and four battled to victory, with three-time World Cup winner Van Gerwen sealing a 15-dart leg to progress to the last eight.
Host nation Germany withstood a stern Czechia fightback to triumph 8-6 and confirm their progression to the quarter-finals.
Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko raced into a 6-1 lead following a profligate start from Karel Sedlacek and Adam Gawlas, yet Czechia’s duo reduced the deficit to 7-6 to threaten an astounding comeback.
However, the German team left 44 after nine darts in the subsequent leg, with Schindler wrapping up an 11-darter to save their best for last and sprint over the finish line.
Scotland produced just the third whitewash victory in the World Cup knockout stage since 2023, trouncing Norway 8-0 to breeze into the last eight.
Gary Anderson and Cameron Menzies – the former of which was whitewashed by the Netherlands in their opening knockout match last year – surged into a 5-0 lead with a perfect outer-ring success rate, before completing the match having only missed four darts at double between them.
“That was nearly as perfect as I could wish for!” confessed World Cup debutant Menzies, with Scotland averaging 99.37 in victory.
“Gary stood up and proved why he’s a two-time World Champion and why he’s the best player ever to play for Scotland.
“That was great, Gary was brilliant, I loved every moment of that. He took the reins of that game here and made me feel comfortable.”
Republic of Ireland await Scotland in the quarter-finals, as World Cup ever-present William O’Connor and Mickey Mansell brushed aside Poland 8-5 in a stellar display.
After leading 5-2, the pair let their lead slip following a three-leg burst from Polish duo Krzysztof Ratajski and Sebastian Bialecki, yet Ireland took three legs on the spin themselves to complete a tidy triumph.
RESULTS
Round Two
Republic of Ireland 8-5 Poland; Latvia 8-7 France; (4) Scotland 8-0 Norway; Wales 8-5 USA; (3) Northern Ireland 8-7 Belgium; Germany 8-6 Czechia; (1) England 8-5 Spain; (2) Netherlands 8-6 Sweden
SCHEDULE
Quarter-Finals
Scotland v Republic of Ireland
England v Wales
Northern Ireland v Latvia
Netherlands v Germany
