World number one Luke Humphries couldn't hide his embarrassment after TV cameras caught a piece of unusual behaviour at the 2025 European Darts Grand Prix.
Humphries played fellow Englishman Connor Scutt in the second round on Saturday, thrashing 'The Sniper' 6-1 at the PDC event in Sindelfingen.
The former world champion was beaten in 11 legs by Michael Smith in the next round despite averaging over 100.
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Gary Anderson whitewashed Andrew 'Goldfinger' Gilding in the final but Humphries was the talk of Sindelfingen after eagle-eyed fans spotted a flaw in his technique.
'Cool Hand Luke' might be the world number one at the oche but he's got some work to do when it comes to the usually straightforward act of taking a sip of water between throws.
At one point in the match, Humphries approached his table on the stage and bent over to slurp up some water without involving his hands in the process.
That's not the traditional method and an embarrassed Humphries was moved to explain himself when he discovered after the match that his unusual supping had been observed.
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"Did that get shown on camera? It was... my hands were so sweaty, and I didn’t want to touch the glass because it was so like..." explained the 2024 world champion.
"There was so much moisture that I was like, if I pick it up with my hands, it might make... look, it’s very hot out here. It’s really, really tough. It’s like being abroad when you’re on holiday.
"But you have to make the best of a bad situation, and I thought if I don’t touch the glass, I won’t add that moisture to my hands, and it worked!
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"I didn’t know you were going to catch it on camera. I was hoping I did it discreetly, but yeah, I was just trying to help myself a bit."
Humphries is the winner of seven European Tour events including the European Grand Prix in 2022.
He'll be back in England this week to take part in Premier League Darts Night 14 in Leeds, where he's scheduled to face Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals.
Topics: Darts
Chris Nee