Van Barneveld shows support for Humphries after whistling from fans: ''Luke doesn’t deserve that, he's a fantastic guy''
PDCSunday, 23 June 2024 at 10:00
Raymond van Barneveld reached the last sixteen of a European Tour tournament for the first time this season on Saturday night. The 57-year-old Dutchman moved into the final day of the European Darts Open after a 6-4 victory over reigning world champion Luke Humphries.
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It was mainly the doubles that broke Humphries down. The Englishman recorded a finishing percentage of only 22 percent, while Van Barneveld had a finishing percentage of 40 percent.
In the first leg, Humphries already missed seven doubles to get on the scoreboard. Van Barneveld took profit with his second dart on the double and then doubled his lead with a 14-dart leg. However 'Cool Hand Luke' fought his way back into the match with a 12-dart leg and a 14-darter to get back to 2-2.
Van Barneveld then regained the lead with a 14-darter, before Humphries tied the score again with a 13-darter. Then it was Van Barneveld who managed to produce a 13-darter to make it 4-3. Humphries then levelled the score again with a 109 finish.
Humphries then failed to break the Dutchman in the ninth leg. The world number one missed two chances on tops, after which Van Barneveld managed to reach 5-4 via double 6. Humphries missed four more doubles in the tenth leg to force a deciding leg. Van Barneveld then hit the double 10 to take the win.
''To beat the world number one is an amazing feeling,'' Van Barneveld said in his stage interview afterwards. “I keep believing in myself. I feel relaxed, and when you’re relaxed, you can achieve anything.”
Humphries was gone from the stage very quickly after the match concluded. 'Cool Hand Luke' was whistled heavily at times by the German fans. Van Barneveld stood up for him. ''Luke is an amazing player. When you’re the World Champion, you have a target on your back, but Luke doesn’t deserve that. He’s a fantastic guy and we’re good friends.''
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Van Barneveld will take on Gian van Veen in the third round of this tournament. The third round of the European Darts Open will take place on Sunday afternoon, before the tournament concludes with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in a bumper evening session at the Ostermann-Arena.
I stumbled into the world of darts quite by accident back in 2013. For a Journalism School assignment, I had to produce a live sports report and as it happened, the European Tour event in Veldhoven was the only available option. That weekend, I caught the darts bug. The post-match interviews especially appealed to me, as darts players tend to be much more open and approachable than what you usually see with footballers on television.
After a few detours, I joined Dartsnieuws.com in 2017 as editor-in-chief. I don’t have much competitive experience myself, although I once entered a PDC Development Tour weekend just to experience what it’s like from a player’s perspective. I even managed to win a leg against a Tour Card holder and, quite by accident, earned £50 in prize money.
In 2022, I was also involved in the founding of the TOTO Dart Kings, a commercial darts team, where I worked as media manager for three years. Unfortunately, due to new legislation in the Netherlands, that project came to an end in 2025.
Through my work in darts, I’ve been fortunate to travel to some incredible events, from Premier League nights at Ahoy Rotterdam, to several World Championships, and even the US Darts Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Beyond darts, I’m a passionate sports fan in general. You can always wake me up for a game of tennis or padel, and I love following football, tennis, padel, cycling, Formula 1, and ice skating.
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- Need to see her take part in the womens tour. She'll break the inernet.medinabello08-09-2026
- If he can be bothered? He won't play darts in Germany yet he'll go over and get an award!??rick6702-09-2026
- Why is this the main story? He chose not to compete in loads of tournaments,yes he's number 1 in the world,but he does have to turn up at tournaments! Play the next world championship in Dortmund and see if he turns up!!rick6727-08-2026
- This is exactly what I mean,littler survives the 1st round,I think you'll find a lot of other players did. Can you just report on the real sport,and not just 1 person. I like Luke,but this is getting boring now,as Kevin painter once said to Taylor!! The sport is about every player,not 1 who everyone seems to have put the sport on the map.,which he hasn't,he's just got in when the money is massive. Great as he is,it seems like what's the point in anyone trying,he's going to win everything,unless it's in Germany or Australia!!!rick6726-08-2026
- I mean look, Littler's picture is first,wattimena is second and he won! Level it up. I know littler is fantastic,but the sport was here before him,and will be when he's retired. Any player in the top 64/128 can beat each other,it's not big news. Poor Jermaine,wins it,and not even the headline!!rick6726-08-2026
- I appreciate that littler is a fantastic player,but the top 3 articles are about him. Before he'd thrown a dart in the tournament. Level it out a bit, Taylor and van gerwen soon got disliked as the media could only see them,and nobody else seemed to matterrick6725-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- The two-point Lucky Loser qualifiers are Ross Smith, Robb, Whitlock, Sakai, Ilagan and Toylo. Jermaine is not on the entries list on Dartconnect for the TCH qualifier so the four from the main OoM are probably Searle, Nijman, Dobey, Wattimena.Scoobedybop24-08-2026
- I'd happily pay for a site free of Van der Voort's every squeak and utterance.StraightArrowNoBull19-08-2026
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