Luke Humphries admits he nearly pulled out of Czech Darts Open before reaching final

Luke Humphries may donate some of his prize money from the Czech Darts Open to his physiotherapist.

Humphries reached the final in Prague, where he was beaten 8-6 by world no.1 Luke Littler.

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Although ‘Cool Hand’ will have wanted to take home the spoils and a tidy £35,000 in prize money, merely getting to the final was still a significant achievement given his physical issues in the lead-up.

“I was going to pull out on Thursday, and I made the final, so I can’t be too upset with myself because I did really well,” Humphries said.

What was Luke Humphries’ injury?

The 31-year-old previously confirmed it was a shoulder injury that had him second guessing on whether to jet into Prague for the tournament.

“It’s like the Grand Slam last year,” Humphries said following his win over Beau Greaves in the second round.

“I woke up in the morning, got out of bed and it had gone again.

“I have to give a massive shout-out to my physio John on Thursday, who really worked hard, because I wasn’t going to come here on Thursday.

“But I saw myself in the draw and I thought, ‘I can’t let the fans down.'”

Humphries went into the tournament having won three of the last four editions, making it one of his favourites.

But Littler turned up the heat in the final with a sizzling average of 95, aided by five 180s, to deny ‘Cool Hand’ a fourth Czech crown.

The win marked Littler’s first Czech Darts Open triumph and, more importantly, booked his spot at the European Championship in Dortmund.

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It is the only PDC ranked televised event Littler has not won in his trophy-laden career.

In fact, Littler has never made it past the second round at the European Championship.

Luke Littler reacts to winning Czech Darts Open

But having won every PDC ranked and non-ranked televised event this year, Littler will hope this is the year he finally breaks his European Championship drought in October.

“I’m not sure how I’ve won this one,” Littler said.

“I think I’ve secured my place in Dortmund. That’s obviously the one I’m chasing.

“In two weeks’ time it’s the World Series in Amsterdam. We’ll have to see what happens, what the plan is and how busy I am.”

This year’s European Championship gets underway at the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund on October 22.