Luke Humphries has been inundated with praise for an apparent bit of sportsmanship in his clash with Paul Lim on Monday night.
The 2024 world champion was in action in the evening session at Alexandra Palace and recorded a comfortable 3-0 straight sets victory over the 'Singaporean Slinger'.
Lim, 71, set up the meeting with the former world No.1 after a 3-1 win against Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round - a result which saw him become the oldest player to win a game at the World Darts Championship.
He was widely praised by reigning champion Luke Littler, who said he wanted to avoid playing him and left Lim in disbelief by the comments.
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Lim was a huge fan favourite in his opening round match and that was also the case against Humphries, who he actually beat 3-2 in a first-round fixture in the 2020 edition of the World Darts Championship.
Despite the crowd's incredible backing, Lim could't produce on the oche and was thoroughly outclassed by Humphries, who averaged 97.21.
The 30-year-old very nearly produced a perfect performance, only dropping one leg in the tie. However, many felt that Humphries purposely took his foot off the gas at 2-0 up on sets to allow Lim the opportunity to get on the board.
Humphries went for tops and missed while smiling, before Lim did the business to secure a first leg in the clash.
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Afterwards, 'Cool Hand' revealed that he did not want to whitewash Lim and was "glad" he got a deserved leg. He added that it was a "pleasure" to play Lim, a veteran of the sport and the first man to produce a nine-dart finish at the World Championship back in 1990.
"The first two sets, I knew I had to come out fighting because the crowd were going to be on his side," Humphries told Sky Sports.
"When I went 2-0 up, everything was going well. The third set wasn't as great but I didn't want to destroy him 9-0 [in legs], that wasn't really what I wanted to happen. I wanted to win 3-0 in sets but I'm glad he got a leg at the end there because he didn't deserve that [9-0 defeat].
"He played alright in the first two sets, I was just really clinical with my scoring and finishing.
"It's a pleasure to play him again, unfortunately I had business to do tonight. That was the most amazing atmosphere I've been a part of, when they were calling his name out."
The losing finalist last time out, Humphries returns to action after the Christmas break when he meets Gabriel Clemens in the third round.
Topics: Luke Humphries, World Darts Championship, Darts
Josh Lawless