Luke Humphries wins on first night of World Darts Championship as he experiences a stage first at Ally Pally
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LUKE HUMPHRIES avoided a Brexit from the World Darts Championship as he sent France’s top player back over the Channel. The last time a reigning world darts champion lost on the opening night at Ally Pally was Canadian John Part 16 years ago. But at the scene of his greatest triumph, Cool Hand Luke did not suffer the same fate and progressed to the third round with a 3-0 whitewashing of Frenchman Thibault Tricole.
![[Luke Humphries cruised into the third round of the World Darts Championships]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/luke-humphries-england-celebrates-thibault-957748629.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
A seventh consecutive win at the North London Palace was secured in a sweet 16 minutes and he might now face five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in the Last 32 after the Christmas festivities. For the first time in his life, Humphries was announced on this famous stage as the “reigning world champion” by MC John McDonald – and he absolutely loved whipping up the crowd during his walk-on music.
![[Humphries celebrates winning 3-0 against Thibault Tricole]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/celebrates-winning-second-round-match-957748966.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
I Predict a Riot by Kaiser Chiefs is the tune he picked at the start of the Premier League, given his Leeds United connections, and it is a real fans favourite as Humphries proved when he twirled his hands like a conductor. The first set was awful and saw plenty of errors from Tricole – who wasted all four of his double attempts – and the world No.1 prevailed by clinching three legs with a lowly 83.50 average.
The second set went his way, too, winning it by three clear legs, and nailing a wonderful 160 checkout. As his average went up to 90.79, Humphries nailed 81 with a Bull finish and then secured an opening-night victory on double 10. As any former world champion would say, they just want to get through that opener and not slip on a banana skin.
