World Cup of Darts: Luke Littler, Luke Humphries stunned by Germany

England’s Luke Littler and Luke Humphries have been knocked out of the World Cup of Darts after suffering a shock defeat to hosts Germany in their opening match of the tournament.

Reigning world champion Luke Littler and world No. 1 Luke Humphries were beaten 8-4 in Frankfurt by world No. 18 Martin Schindler and No. 28 Ricardo Pietreczko.

As top seeds, the duo entered the competition at the second-round stage and were strong favourites to deliver England’s record-extending sixth World Cup triumph. Humphries won the World Cup alongside Michael Smith last year.

Littler and Humphries, who both received MBEs in King Charles’ Birthday Honours list on Friday, have produced some of the best darts displays in living memory during their ongoing battle for supremacy in the sport, but their debut team outing ended in disaster.

It was a struggle from the start for the English pair who were booed throughout by the partisan home crowd as Schindler and Pietreczko broke throw in the opening leg.

England did recover to level at 2-2 but recurring issues on the outer ring allowed the Germans to race into a 7-5 lead in the first-to-eight contest.

“The Nuke” and “Cool Hand Luke” snatched back two more legs before they finally succumbed when Pietreczko nailed a 62 checkout that sealed Germany’s shock victory.

“We believed in ourselves and we put in a solid performance, and the double 16s that Ricardo threw were so important,” Schindler said.

“We are delighted to go through. German darts is in good shape right now and we will continue to push forward.”