Luke Littler makes classy gesture to Luke Humphries after becoming 'Ronaldo of darts'
Luke Littler lost to Luke Humphries in the World Darts Championship final but showed that there were no hard feelings.
Expert says Luke Littler will make 'multi-millions' after darts win
Luke Littler has given Luke Humphries a very welcomed shoutout on Instagram after becoming the first darts player to reach one million followers on the social media platform. Littler’s fame has exploded since reaching the final of the sport’s premier competition earlier this month, despite falling at the final hurdle to Humphries.
Humphries denied Littler on the final stage to claim his first world title, but the pair were full of positive words for each other after the intense clash. Since that day, Littler has continued as a household name while Humphries as champion was invited for a game with Rishi Sunak after scooping a £500,000 prize.
But Humphries’ Instagram following has been engulfed by Littler, who gained nearly 200,000 fans on the January 3 final and now boasts a total following of over one million. However, upon reaching the milestone one of his first messages was to give a shout-out to the Humphries and share their direct messages.
On his Instagram stories, 16-year-old Littler wrote: "Come on everybody give you the world champ some followers." This was accompanied by a screenshot of his conversation with Humphries, who replied to Littler’s one million follower announcement with: "Bro you need to tell some of them to follow me. That's mad. Congratulations man."
JUST IN Ronnie O'Sullivan offers advice to Luke Littler as icon lifts lid on regrets [INTERVIEW]
Littler had obliged Humphries’ request and the new world champion has since gained over 30,000 new followers since the shout-out. That should come as little surprise considering Littler’s explosion on social media since bursting onto the Alexandra Palace stage in December.
He has even been labelled the “Cristiano Ronaldo of darts” by his boyhood coach Karl Holden, who worked with Littler at St Helens Darts Academy. “At nine he was good. Before he was 11 he was extremely good,” Mr Holden told BBC Breakfast.
Don't miss...
Van Gerwen wants to 'get one over' on Humphries and take revenge for Littler [REACTION]
Luke Littler's darts schedule with 16-year-old set for weekly Sky Sports matches [LATEST]
Littler age 'deceptive' as darts sensation warned 'tricks will be played on him' [INTERVIEW]
“He’s a freak of nature, honestly, he really is. I’d say he’s the (Cristiano) Ronaldo of darts. He is one of the best players in the world at the age of 16,”
Littler, a Manchester United fan, channelled his inner Ronaldo by performing his ‘calma’ celebration in the final against Humphries. Littler had won the fourth set to draw 2-2 by hitting double four and as the Ally Pally crowd went wild he pushed his hands down and called for calmness, similar to one of Ronaldo’s iconic celebrations.
Littler could not become world champion that night but Humphries insisted that the teenager would conquer darts sooner rather than later and the pair are clearly on very good terms, further highlighted by Littler’s classy gesture on Instagram to boost Humphries’ follower count.