World Darts Championship: Peter Wright says Luke Humphries would have retained title if he hadn't beaten him

Peter Wright has spent over a year being written off, but after dumping out reigning champion Luke Humphries at Alexandra Palace, he knows he can still compete at the very top of darts.

As the world No 1, Humphries was the heavy favourite heading into the last-16 contest but 'Snakebite' produced a brilliant 100.93 average and mind-blowing 70-per-cent success-rate on the doubles to wrap up a clinical 4-1 victory.

The win means Wright will return to Ally Pally in 2025, with Humphries unable to defend his title from 2024.

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Wright has been batting off the critics for over 12 months, admitting he has reassessed his own career a times, but with a win like that under his belt he believes he has shown why he can still be considered among the world's best.

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"I know I can beat the likes of Humphries and (Luke) Littler but those two guys also inspire me to carry on playing darts. I'm not ready to go to the senior side yet, because I know I can still play this game. I knew I still had it in me to compete against the best players in the world," Wright said.

"I've sat in the Premier League getting battered by these guys and wondering why I'm here, why they picked me and stuff like that. I don't seem to perform for the crowd there. It's really strange and annoying.

"I was in tears last year and Michael van Gerwen said, 'you don't want to do it anymore, do you?' I said, 'I don't know, maybe I don't, maybe I do, but I'm not going to give up'. And that's the main thing.

"I'm just trying to play the game I know I can play. I want to play like Callan Rydz.

"He's just going up there enjoying himself and playing fantastic darts. He should be favourite for this tournament. He's playing superb darts and long may it carry on."

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While many had Humphries as the man to beat in this tournament, Wright had quietly backed himself to pull off the shock, with the longer distance working in his favour.

Indeed, he believed that if he did not stop Humphries, then no one would and he would have gone on to become a back-to-back world champion.

"I felt confident playing Luke over the shorter distance. If I didn't beat him in this round here, he would have retained his title, because I don't think any other player would have got close to him over a longer distance," added Wright.

"Luke wasn't quite in the same form as he was last year. He was untouchable last year - 100-plus averages all the time. You didn't want to play Luke last year.

"This year he's getting wins and getting through the big games with 98, 99, something like that. I thought if he turns up and throws 98, I've got a chance. If he turned up like the Luke of last year, he would have bashed me off the board."

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One thing that helped Wright through the contest was the support of the crowd, who backed him from the walk-ons onwards.

While often a fan favourite, the support he received against the reigning champion was nothing like he had experienced before.

"It's crazy, it's mental. Maybe they like the underdog," he said. "The last two matches I've been the underdog and I like being the underdog. I don't like being favourite for matches. I like proving everyone wrong

"It was brilliant to get that support out there like I did tonight. It was fantastic."

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