HUMPHRIES UNFAZED DESPITE DISTRACTION IN RIYADH

LUKE HUMPHRIES admitted he was distracted by animated staff during his Saudi Arabia Masters win.

‘Cool Hand’ defeated Ryusei Azemoto 6–2 in Riyadh, averaging 95.56 and hitting 60 per cent of his doubles to book his place in the quarter-final.

World No2 Humphries was largely untroubled on the stage and maintained control throughout the contest.

But Humphries revealed movement off the oche briefly caught his eye during the match.

He said: “It was one of the staff waving his arms around a little bit. Obviously, because there is no left drop there, you can see people walking past.

“It’s fine, but someone was being animated. I don’t know what they were doing, but they were throwing their arms about.

“I can completely see that when I am throwing, so I was trying to say, ‘Look, stop doing that.’”

Humphries admitted that early in his career he did not anticipate competing in World Series events across brand-new territories.

The Cheshire thrower believes darts will continue to grow globally, with Africa potentially hosting tournaments in the future.

He added: “Not particularly, no. Six years ago Saudi was a big hot spot for any sport, to be honest.

“Obviously, if you said I would be a part of the World Series in the future, I would have said yes.

“But being here is a bit different. It’s not what we all would have expected a few years ago.

“These sort of things come about quite quickly, where you don’t really get a chance to process that you are already in Saudi, and it’s the country that wants you to come here and play darts.

“There might be a brand-new country next year that we don’t expect either. I’ve always said Africa would be a good place to go.

“You never know — next year I might say I never expected darts to come to Kenya or Africa, somewhere like that.

“You never know where you are going to play in the future.”

Humphries returns to action on Tuesday and will face Gerwyn Price for a spot in the semi-final.

Image by Taylor Lanning.