Peter Wright has saluted Luke Humphries and Luke Littler for inspiring his seismic victory at the World Darts Championship.
The 54-year-old Scot stunned reigning world champion Humphries 4-1 on Sunday night to move into the quarter-final at Alexandra Palace.
“Luke Humphries and Luke Littler inspire me to carry on playing darts,” said Wright, who lifted the crown in 2020 and 2022 and was in tears at the end of a match that turned the formbook upside down.
“I’m not ready to go to the senior side yet because I know I can still play this game. I know I can get better.
“I felt confident playing Luke over a shorter distance. If I didn’t beat him in this round he would have retained his title because I don’t think any other player would have got close to Luke over a longer distance.
“It was my only chance over shorter sets and luckily enough it worked.”
‘Snakebite’ averaged nearly 101 and hit 70 per cent of his doubles against Humphries, who was nowhere near the standard that took him to glory on the Ally Pally stage 12 months ago.
But Wright was still dissatisfied with the performance, saying he was a long way from his best.
He said: “I’m obviously over the moon with the win but I wasn’t pleased with my performance.
“I struggled through the whole game, just trying to get the throwing action and placing the darts and making it feel nice.
“I think I hit 180 at a crucial time and that was the only throw in the whole match that it felt good. The round before I felt more comfortable and didn’t play as well.
“I’ll take each leg and each set at a time because you can’t overlook any player at this tournament.
“There’s been a lot of shocks, that’s the way darts is. Everyone can play and everyone can beat everybody.
“You have to be careful, you can’t take anyone lightly.”
Former world champion Gerwyn Price earlier became the first man to book his place in the quarter-finals by defeating Jonny Clayton 4-2.
Price, who won the title in 2021, was rarely at his best against his fellow Welshman, racing into a 2-0 lead with an average of 107 before Clayton hit back to level it up at 2-2.
Clayton’s mid-match form then deserted him and Price, the 10th seed, got the job done despite only producing glimpses of his best, which saw him end with an average of 92.28 and a checkout percentage of 36.1.
Callan Rydz produced another brilliant display to book his place in the last 16 by whitewashing Dimitri van den Bergh 4-0.
Newcastle’s world number 43 Rydz has yet to lose a set at the Alexandra Palace and he will now play Robert Owen in the fourth round.
Rydz produced a 12-dart break to open up a 3-0 lead over Belgian world number 11 Van den Bergh, a semi-finalist in 2023, with a 110 average at that stage.
Owen, a part-time delivery driver from Bridgend and 77th in the world rankings, secured the biggest win of his career to beat Ricky Evans 4-2.
A seesaw battle tilted Owen’s way after Evans had missed two darts to go 3-1 up and the Welshman took full advantage, landing 140 on 20 occasions to win the final three sets.
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Dutchman Kevin Doets produced a thrilling comeback to beat Krzysztof Ratajski 4-3 to set up a fourth-round match with 15th seed Chris Dobey.
World number 81 Jeffrey de Graaf will play third seed Michael van Gerwen in the last 16 after beating Filipino Paolo Nebrida 4-1.
Dutch-born Swede De Graaf sealed his place in the fourth round for the first time with a 10-dart finish in the final leg.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
