Luke Littler has been accused of throwing darts away (Image: Getty)
has been accused of throwing darts away during his defeat to in the Swiss Darts Trophy.
The Nuke was knocked out in the third round on Sunday, being beaten 6-3 by his rival in a match where neither player was at their very best.
Littler headed into the clash in good form, beating Bruno Stockil 6-3 after receiving a bye to the second round, but his spell in Basel was short-lived after Humphries put him to the sword.
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Littler struggled to hold his throw throughout the bout, with his 93.32 average not proving enough to get the better of the world champion. His final visit of the inaugural tournament was one of his most underwhelming.
The 17-year-old threw a 50 – 5, 20 and then 25 – to leave himself with 159 and his hopes of remaining in the competition firmly in the hands of Humphries, who only needed 40. Cool Hand made no mistake by hitting double tops to book his spot in the next round.
However, it was Littler’s final throw to leave him with a bogey number which left his supporters confused. During PDC TV’s live coverage of the match, commentator Dan Dawson said: “Luke Littler can’t land a blow. He throws away his last dart in frustration.”
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COOL HAND MARCHES ON!Luke Humphries books his spot in the quarter-finals, as the world number one beats Luke Littler 6-3 in our second game of the afternoon.?????? Stephen Bunting v Martin Schindler?????? |
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC)
It is not the first time that Littler has been accused of throwing darts away in frustration, and he has come under fire for not keeping his head and setting himself up to capitalise on any mistake made by his opponent, regardless of the unlikelihood.
One X user (@joshpearson180) wrote: “Strange last leg there from Littler, he just gave up.” Another (@Joe_Nicholls) added: “As much as he’s a prodigy, when the darts don’t go his way he appears petulant, I don’t put it down to arrogance though, I put it down to high standards.”
Luke Humphries secured a 6-3 win over Littler (Image: Getty)
Some supporters put Littler’s defeat down to his struggles with his new darts though, after admitting over the weekend that he was weighing up reverting to his older set.
He said: “I tried them out and at one point I was debating whether to switch and go back to my old ones because of the crowd, they were obviously on his [Stockli’s] side. I just had to find my shots and the 145 [checkout] really done it for me. The darts are all the same, it’s just the gold grooves on the barrel.”