Defending champion Luke Humphries suffered a shock first round exit from Gian van Veen in the Players Championship Final at Butlin’s Minehead on Friday night.
Humphries started the game well, taking a 3-0 lead. half empty To get on board, we started off with an incredible 161 checkouts.
Van Veen, who also beat the former world champion in the European Championship final in Dortmund last month, won three shots off the bounce to take a 5-4 lead.
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Gian van Veen won his first major trophy after beating Luke Humphries 11-10 in a dramatic European Championship final.
Humphries won the final penalty shoot-out in the next game and Van Veen missed two match darts and three further darts, but the Dutch youngster eventually won and progressed to the second round.
Van Veen’s win is his fourth straight win against Humphreys in 2025.
Luke Littlerwho snatched the world number one crown from Humphries following his Grand Slam of Darts victory a week ago, cruised to a 6-1 victory over Jeffrey de Graaf.
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Highlights of the Grand Slam of Darts final clash between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.
De Graaf took the opening leg but Littler rattled off the next six games, averaging 104 points in a very impressive and ominous performance.
No. 1 seed elsewhere Gerwin Price beat Max Hopp 6-2; Josh Rock He beat another German hopeful, beating Gabriel Clemens 6-3.
Martin Schindler But he got the win on the board for his compatriots, beating a limping Michael Smith 6-4 in the opening match of the night.
There was also a comfortable victory. stephen bunting, Nathan Aspinall, Gary Andersonand peter wright During the evening session.
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Rookie world number one Luke Littler has insisted it is up to other players to stop him and Luke Humphries meeting in a major final and said his goal is back-to-back world championships at Alexandra Palace.
Players Championship Finals – Evening Session Results
main stage
Martin Schindler 6-4 Michael Smith
Josh Rock 6-3 Gabriel Clemens
Gerwin Price 6-2 Max Hope
Stephen Bunting 6-2 Rich Edhouse
Luke Littler 6-1 Geoffrey De Graaf
Gian van Veen 6-5 Luke Humphries
Nathan Aspinall 6-3 Karel Sedracek
Chris Dovey 6-1 Keane Barry
Step 2
Jermaine Wattimina 6-3 Wesley Fleischer
Ryan Searle 6-1 Darren Beveridge
Richard Vinstra 6-5 Wessel Nyman
Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Raymond van Barneveld
Madars Razma 6-3 Dirk van Duijvenbode
Gary Anderson 6-2 Mario Vandenbogaerde
Peter Wright 6-3 Joe Cullen
Justin Hood 6-4 Damon Heta
Cross, Chisnall and Clayton suffered early exits in the afternoon.
Rob Cross, Dave Chisnall and Jonny Clayton were all knocked out of the Players Championship final on Friday afternoon, but James Wade progressed to the second round.
James Hurrell They pulled off a major upset on opening day, defeating former finalist Clayton by a 99.2 average.
walk across A comfortable 6-3 win over Mickey Mansell with a 94.7 average and a 50% doubles percentage.
‘The Machine’ said of the frosty handshake between the two after the game, “He’s a difficult guy. It’s a pretty simple game if he plays at a normal pace. I shook his hand and tried my best and said all sorts of things, but he didn’t give it back. I was a little discouraged.”
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James Wade appeared furious after sharing an awkward handshake after beating Mickey Mansell in the Players Championship at Minehead. Credit: ITV Sports
Cam Crabtree They capitalized on 17 missed darts from Mike De Decker’s doubles, including six match darts, to secure a 6-5 win in the decider.
Former semi-finalist ryan joyce They averaged 86.5 points from a struggling Chisnall and won 6-4.
Sebastian Bialecki He averaged 85.8 punishment in another match where he forgot about Cross as he won 6-2 with a high checkout of 154.
Grand Slam semifinalist Danny Noffert Won 6-2 over Ricky Evans with an average of 103.8 and a high checkout of 164.
Adam Lipscomb In his debut match, he defeated the unorthodox Cameron Menzies 6-1.
There were also the following victories: ross smith, Andrew Gilding, scott williams and bradley brooks.
Players Championship Finals – Afternoon Session Results
main stage
Sebastian Bialecki 6-2 Rob Cross
Ryan Joyce 6-4 Dave Chisnall
Cam Crabtree 6-5 Mike DeDecker
Danny Noppert 6-2 Ricky Evans
James Wade 6-3 Mickey Mansell
James Hurrell 6-3 Johnny Clayton
Ross Smith 6-1 Ryan Meikle
Step 2
Bradley Brooks 6-1 Martin Lukeman
Andrew Gilding 6-5 Dom Taylor
Scott Williams 6-2 Ian White
Nick Kenny 6-4 Nils Sonneveld
Callan Leeds 6-4 Kevin Dotz
Adam Lipscomb 6-1 Cameron Menzies
Darryl Gurney 6-3 Brendan Dolan
Luke Woodhouse 6-2 Alan Soutar
Richard Pietreczko 6-3 William O’Connor
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