Luke Humphries says he should be in running for iconic award that Luke Littler is gunning for

LUKE HUMPHRIES feels he should be in the running for the Sports Personality of the Year award despite rival Luke Littler usurping him as the leading darts candidate.

Humphries, 29, beat Littler to win the world championship back in January.

Luke Humphries beat Luke Littler to win the world championships in JanuaryPA

Littler is second favourite to win the Sports Personality of the Year awardRex

But it was Littler‘s fairytale run to the final – which happened before his 17th birthday – that took many of the headlines.

Since then, Littler has beaten Humphries in eight of their 13 meetings, winning titles including the Premier League and Grand Slam of Darts.

Yet Humphries remains world No1 and has continued to pick up trophies this year – such as the World Matchplay and, last weekend, the Players Championship Finals.

And he feels he should be in the frame for the SPOTY award – which 800 metre Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson is favourite for, with Littler in second.

Speaking to Sporting Life, Humphries said: “Of course, yeah [I feel I deserve to be in the running].

“The thing I find over the last 12 months [is] I don’t see any other British sportsperson that has dominated a sport and nearly won everything.

“It’s more done on personality, isn’t it? So it’s not about your achievements.

“It doesn’t bother me too much but I’ll go and I’ll be supporting him [Littler] and if he wins it’s good for the sport.

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“But it’s still nice to be invited. I think they [the BBC] acknowledge a little bit what I’ve achieved.”

Meanwhile, Littler spoke about potentially becoming the first darts player to win the award.

He said: “It would be a big thing for myself, but I’ve not really looked too much at the person in first. Is it a runner [Keely Hodgkinson]?

“People don’t really class us as athletes, do they? So if I’m second then that’ll do.”