Luke Humphries going to hospital after fan injured him at US Darts Masters

Luke Humphries will make a hospital trip after being injured by a fan at the US Darts Masters. The world No.1, returning to action after he and Luke Littler fell at the first hurdle at the World Cup, played through the pain barrier at New York’s Madison Square Garden after a bizarre incident ahead of his first-round match against Stowe Buntz.

During his walk-on, Humphries was left in pain after the thumb on his throwing hand was yanked back by an overzealous fan. The former world champion still came through that match before beating Danny Lauby in the quarter-finals.

Cool Hand then thrashed Gerwyn Price 7-2 in the last four before seeing off Nathan Aspinall 8-6 in the final, despite the continuing discomfort, which will see him getting the digit X-rayed before he returns to action.

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Fortunately, Humphries was already planning to take a couple of weeks off, which will see him miss the next World Series event in Poland. He told “My thumb is incredibly swollen. It’s hard to play through; I was struggling with the grip.

“I couldn’t hold my thumb in the same position. I don’t want to make it all about that because I’ve won the title, I don’t want the headlines to be about me and an injury. But the guy, when he pulled my hand back, he really hurt it. I’m going to have to go home and get it X-rayed."

Before the final against Aspinall, he made it clear to his family that he intended to leave everything out on the oche. He added: “When I was in the final, I said to my family, ‘I’m going to give it everything, if I injure my hand in the final, it doesn’t matter.’ I tried my best, and thankfully, it was good enough.

“I don’t think it’s broken because it doesn’t hurt to squeeze it. I’ve got a couple of weeks off now. The next time I play will be in Kiel [at the Baltic Sea Open].”

His injury aside, Humphries was proud to lift the trophy at such an illustrious venue. He said: "It's one of the top venues in the world and it's one I've always dreamed of winning. When I finally won it tonight, it was an amazing relief.

"I've won World Championships, World Matchplays, Premier Leagues and these big titles and it felt like I'd won another major. That's how big it is.

“It's very special and you could see my relief at the end. This was the one on the World Series that I really wanted to win. The crowd have been absolutely amazing this week, and to have my mum and dad here to see me win again means the world to us all."

Humphries sportingly paid tribute to runner-up Aspinall, saying: "Nathan is such a credit to the sport and you can see that with the amount of support he got from the crowd.

"Nathan is so gritty and determined, he came back at me and made it hard for me but he missed two darts to go seven-all and gave me a chance. It's nice to see him back playing the way he can - he makes me want to be better and we always seem to have really good games."