New dad Luke set for Ally Pally

Newbury’s Luke Humphries has reached the quarter-finals of three previous World Darts Championships and is hoping the recent birth of his son will inspire him to do even better this time around as he prepares to go in search of his first ever major tournament win.

It’s already been a memorable year for Cool Hand Luke in which he’s won four European Tour titles and become a father for the first time.

He’s ranked as the fifth seed ahead of darts’ showpiece event at the Alexandra Palace and will take on either Keegan Brown or Florian Hempel on December 22 when he enters at the second round.

“I think becoming a dad has given me that extra bit of pride and determination to do well because I’ve got a young family that I’m playing for now,” Humphries said.

“I’ve got an amazing partner which is massive because it means I can catch up on sleep before tournaments, she’s fantastic.

“It’s the biggest tournament in darts, I can’t celebrate Christmas until the World Championships are on.

“Even people that aren’t into darts look forward to it, to be a part of it is a dream come true, I never imagined I’d play in one let alone be going into my sixth tournament this year.

“It seems to be a good place for me, I tend to play my best darts there and I think there’s a real opportunity this year to go and do well.”

Humphries will arrive in London full of confidence after he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts last month, beating world number one Michael van Gerwen 16-10 in a sensational quarter-final success.

“I’m full of confidence because I’ve proven I can beat the world’s best players, but then again they’ve also proven they can beat me,” he said.

“I’m a much better player now than I have been at previous World Championships and I’d be silly not to believe I can win it, but there’s another 95 players that will all be thinking the same thing.

"Hopefully I can go and make my family proud."