Luke Littler nearly beat World Darts Championship final opponent Luke Humphries aged 12 as throwback picture emerges

Luke Littler narrowly missed a chance to beat his World Darts Championship opponent Luke Humphries when he was just 12.

Littler continued his sensational run at the World Championships as he beat former champion Rob Cross 6-2 to set up Wednesday’s final against Humphries.

The 16-year-old, who has now earned some £200,000 at the tournament, is the youngest person to ever reach the final, overtaking Kirk Shepherd, who was 21 in 2008 when he lost to John Part.

The teenager started the tournament ranked 164th in the world, while he had a provisional ranking of 50 ahead of his semi-final victory over Cross.

Littler would rise to ninth in the standings should he do the unthinkable and beat Humphries in the final, while he would also pocket £500,000.

Humphries, 28, will represent Littler’s toughest test of the tournament, having become the new world number one after a 6-0 victory over Scott Williams.

Before making his tournament debut, Littler had only played four senior matches at PDC premier events.

What the teenager may find helpful, however, is that he had already faced Humphries… as a 12-year-old at a competition on Hayling Island.

A snap from November 2019 on Littler's social media depicts the two posing alongside one another.

And it sounds like Littler gave Humphries a decent game at the time. The Instagram post is captioned: "Lost out in quarter-finals last night at Hayling Island competition to Luke Humphries missed a few chances to go ahead and a bull for a 164 but gave him a great game."

Should Littler improve on that showing on Wednesday evening and beat Humphries, he would become the World Championship’s youngest winner of all time, surpassing Michael van Gerwen, who was 24 years and nine months old for his first title in 2014.

Asked about his preparation for Wednesday's final, Littler told Sky Sports: "I'll be doing what I've been doing.

“In the morning I'll go for my ham and cheese omelette and then come here, have a pizza and then prep on the board. That is what I've done every day."