World Grand Prix darts: Mike de Decker stuns Luke Humphries to win title
Mike de Decker caused a huge upset as he beat defending champion Luke Humphries 6-4 to win the World Grand Prix title.
The Belgian, a 200-1 outsider before the tournament, withstood a fightback from the world number one to triumph in his first major final.
Englishman Humphries was seeking his fifth televised ranking tournament since his first major victory, on this stage in Leicester a year ago.
But De Decker, 28, surged into a 4-1 lead and kept his cool after world champion Humphries levelled to clinch the £120,000 first prize.
“The way Luke has been playing this last year until now has been brilliant, Being the person that beats him this weekend in the final, picking up this trophy, I have no words, I’m so, so, so, so, so, so, so happy,” he said.
“I was cool in patches. In the beginning, I was really, really, really nervous, then I calmed down. I went 4-1 up, he came back to 4-4. I started to get nerves again but I did it.
“I lost my card, wasn’t on tour, got my card back. My best friend, my mum, everyone, they have all been behind me and thanks to them I won this trophy. I am over the moon.”
De Decker, nicknamed The Real Deal, lifted the trophy and led the crowd in a rousing rendition of his walk-on song, Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.
Despite his long odds for the double-start tournament, he beat four players with a combined total of 26 major titles – Gary Anderson, James Wade, Dimitri van den Bergh and Humphries.
He hit 16 180s and an average of 92.06 in a final victory that sees him rise 11 places to 25 in the PDC Order of Merit.
