- Luke Humphries fell out of the championship after losing to Peter Wright
- The world number one entered the tournament at Alexandra Palace as a favorite
- Humphries claimed his first title last year with a thrilling victory over Luke Littler in the final.
Luke Humphries has revealed who he would like to succeed him as winner of the World Darts Championship this month.
The 29-year-old suffered a shock last-16 defeat to two-time winner Peter Wright at Alexandra Palace on Sunday.
The world number one entered the tournament as a favourite, while teenage sensation Luke Littler also had a good chance of success.
But Humphries, who beat Littler in last year’s final, is not backing the Warrington native – he is backing his close friend Stephen Bunting, who stormed into the quarter-finals after a 4-0 win over Luke Woodhouse.
Humphries and Bunting are practice partners who often meet to play against each other in preparation for competitions. Following Bunting’s win over Woodhouse, he revealed a touching message he received from Humphries.
“I spoke to him (Humphries) this morning,” Bunting said. ‘He wished me luck and said he would love to hand me the crown and give me his World Championship. So that means a lot.
Luke Humphries was eliminated from the World Darts Championship after losing to Peter Wright
Teenage sensation Luke Littler advanced to the quarter-finals after a tense win over Ryan Joyce
Humphries had backed his close friend Stephen Bunting to go on and claim his first PDC World Darts Championship title.
“He’s a great friend of mine and we’ll continue practicing after this tournament. But for now, I’ve put all friendships aside and make sure I’m 100 percent and know I can go all the way. It’s all about do it!’
Bunting gets a chance to avenge his friend when he confronts Wright on New Year’s Day. If he succeeds, Liverpool will face a semi-final against Littler or Nathan Aspinall.
But Bunting insisted he is not getting ahead of himself and trying to focus on the task at hand.
“There’s no point in thinking about who I’m going to play because things happen. Listen, Luke (Humphries) didn’t win last night.
“He’s the best player on the planet, it’s unbelievable. But Peter (Wright), 70 percent or more in doubles, played a fantastic game.
“So regardless of who played, I also know that I needed to do my best to win that game.” Nothing has changed from my point of view. I have a different opponent in front of me, I was probably hoping to play Luke to be fair.
‘In our practice sessions, when we practiced behind the scenes, we talked about playing in the quarters. I kept my end of the deal, but unfortunately Luke came up short, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.