Darts star Luke Humphries says he is "incredibly gutted" after being snubbed from the eight-player Premier League Darts tournament despite winning five ranking events last year.
The 27-year-old won four events on the European Tour events and a Pro Tour tournament, leaving him ranked 5th in the world. With the top four ranked players automatically qualifying for the glitzy Premier League circuit, it is down to the PDC and Sky Sports to select the four other players.
Humphries was one of the darts stars, along with Rob Cross and Rob Smith, who controversially missed out and voiced his disappointment on Twitter.
He said: "Can’t deny that I’m incredibly gutted not to be involved in this years Premier league, I’ve really worked hard in 2022 to get the results I did, 5 senior ranking titles and 2 major semi finals, and All I can say is I’m proud of my achievement’s even if they wasn’t good enough."
The PDC-organised Premier League Darts sees eight competitors compete over a 17-week short format tournament, visiting a different city across Britain each week. The top four players across the 16 previous weeks then compete in May's play-off to be crowned champion. The competition begins on Thursday in Belfast.
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The top four players in the world rankings who automatically qualified are world champion Michael Smith, alongside Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price.
World champion Michael Smith was one of the four automatic selections for the Premier League Darts tournament (Getty Images)Should the Premier League selection be based solely on world ranking? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section
They will be joined by selected players Chris Dobey, Johnny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri Van den Bergh. Dobey won the competition's final golden ticket by clinching last weekend's Masters.
World champion Michael Smith was one of those who voiced his support for Humphries. He replied: "Remember one year I made all quarters and semis of majors and lost 1st round of worlds and didn’t make it. It’s a test now for an even better 2023 pal and leave no doubt for 2024 prem."
Chris Dobey was selected to play in the Premier League after winning last weekend's Masters (CameraSport via Getty Images)Fans had their own views on why Humphries was not selected with @lpdetecting tweeting: "Bewildering decision Luke. At least you now know the criteria is to improve your walk on and do a bit of dancing rather than winning a load of Euro tournaments. Who knew."
He was supported by @top200fpl who had a new walk-on suggestion for the darts star. He added: "If Humphries had Sweet Caroline (for example) as his walk-on he’d be in. Maybe he should spend the next 12 months choreographing a dance routine. Can he do the spinerooni?"
European champion Rob Smith was also disappointed not to be one of the four selected players. He added: "As the reigning European Champion and the biggest 180-hitter in the world in the second half of 2022, I’m obviously absolutely gutted not to be included. But I respect the decision and wish all the players the very best for the event."
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