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Newly crowned champion Luke Humphries has pledged to donate part of his £500,000 prize money to Prostate Cancer UK after winning the final of the World Darts Championship.
The 28-year-old defeated teenage sensation Luke Littler 7-4 in one of the biggest finals in the tournament's history, winning five sets in a row after trailing 4-2 at Alexandra Palace.
And in addition to the Sid Waddell Trophy, Humphries also won the inaugural Ballon d'Art. On behalf of the tournament's sponsor, Paddy Power, silverware will be awarded to the player who achieves the most 180s during the tournament.
Paddy Power pledged to donate £1,000 to Prostate Cancer UK for every 180 hits over the past three weeks and raised a total of £914,000, with Humphries alone raising £73,000.
The world number 1 went into the final with 50 maximums to his name, but hit another 23 to finish with a tournament-best 73. The 914 milestone, meanwhile, was a new record for 180s hit at the PDC World Championship.
Newly crowned world champion Luke Humphries has pledged to donate part of his £500,000 prize money to Prostate Cancer UK
Humphries also achieved the inaugural Ballon d'Art, reserved for the player who achieved the most 180s during the PDC World Championship
After the final, Humphries revealed he would dip into his own pockets and donate some of his winnings to the cancer charity.
“I'm not going to mention the amount, but I'm donating from the prize money because it's close to my heart,” he said.
Before the decision against Littler, Humphries revealed that the campaign was particularly important to him as his girlfriend's father was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“It would be very, very special to me and I really want to give it to my father-in-law who has gone through the process of getting tested and finding out he has it,” he said.
'It was still early stages, so it can be managed and monitored. He caught it early and that's a testament to the fact that controlling your risk does matter. He did that and it could have saved his life.
“If I win it, it will go straight to him because what he has gone through will be much harder than what I am going to go through. I'm just playing a tournament. It's just a game.
“Life is more important and I would like to win it for him.”
Prostate cancer UK Chief Executive Laura Kerby outlined how serious the matter is.
'It's all about knowing the numbers in darts, but not enough people are aware of the hard statistics about prostate cancer. One in eight men will be affected by this disease, and that is a statistic that illustrates why this campaign has been so important,” she explained.
'The money raised will fund life-saving research to diagnose men earlier and improve the lives of men affected by prostate cancer. A huge thank you to Paddy Power for driving this campaign, to the PDC and of course to all the productive players for driving the triple 20 bed forward.”
Humphries revealed ahead of the finale that his girlfriend Kayley Jones' father had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer
Humphries won his first PDC World Championship by beating Luke Littler 7-4
Humphries arrived at the Ally Pally as the pre-tournament favorite after winning the World Grand Prix, the Players Championship Final and the Grand Slam.
And he stressed that winning the PDC World Championship will not quench his thirst for major titles.
“I don't want to say that I have completed darts, but I have done everything that was on the CV,” he told Sky Sports after his triumph.
'Now it's about motivating yourself to do more: I want to become a two-time world champion and win a lot of majors.'