"Shows what the IQ is": Mike de Decker calls out abuse from those betting on World Grand Prix loss

Mike De Decker's dream of defended his title at the World Grand Prix were shattered on Thursday night. 'The Real Deal' was knocked out 3-0 by phenom Luke Littler.

That ended De Decker's streak of six wins at the double-in double-out tournament. The dart player from Mechelen surprisingly captured the title in Leicester last year by beating Damon Heta (2-1), Gary Anderson (3-0), James Wade (3-0), Dimitri Van den Bergh (5-2) and Luke Humphries (6-4).

De Decker began his hunt for title prolongation with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the struggling Peter Wright, but fell well short of providing a stunner against Littler. De Decker's average was nearly 20 points lower than Littler's, and especially on the opening doubles, the Belgian fell short.

Littler was open in 91 percent of the legs in his first turn, and even did so in 55 percent of the legs with his first dart. With De Decker, these numbers were a lot lower. De Decker managed to find the double on his first turn in 55 percent of the legs, and with his first dart, that percentage was only 18 percent.

In the first set alone, De Decker needed at least three turns twice to open his leg. De Decker did win one more leg that set, but Littler won the first set 3-1. 'The Real Deal' narrowly avoided losing the second set 3-0, and took advantage of missed set darts by using a 23-darter to halve the deficit to 2-1. Decker then missed six opening doubles again in the fourth leg of the second set, however, and also saw set two go 3-1 to Littler.

After that, De Decker only got a dart to win a leg in the second leg of the third set. From 68 he missed the double 16 to win the match, after which Littler doubled the lead with a 91 finish. The Nuke then closed the match in style with a brilliant 170 finish.

Afterwards, De Decker reacted to his defeat via his Instagram Stories. ''Couldn't get going, thanks everyone for the support and sorry I let you down.''

Then the current No. 20 also responded to some hate messages he had received, mostly from bettors who had lost money. ''Thanks to all the people losing a bet sending messages, shows what the IQ is'' De Decker concluded his message with a sneer at these individuals.