Gerwyn Price finishes runner-up in World Grand Prix after final defeat

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Gerwyn Price has finished runner-up in the darts World Grand Prix after losing to Luke Humphries in the final.

Price, from Markham, was beaten 5-2 in tournament finale in Leicester on Sunday October 8.

It was Price’s third World Grand Prix final in four years, having won the competition in 2020.

The Iceman made a flying start to the final, winning the first set without reply.

However, 28-year-old Humphries responded by taking nine of the next 11 legs in a three-set burst to take a 3-1 lead.

Price hit back to seal the fifth set in a decider, but his English opponent clinched victory with a remarkable 138 checkout.

Following the defeat, Price admitted he was “absolutely gutted” and added: “I didn’t help myself early on. Luke played fantastic and he’s a worthy winner. I think I played better than him tonight, he just played really well at the right times.

“Fair play to Luke, he deserves the win.”

Meanwhile, an emotional Humphries hailed the victory as the “greatest game I’ve ever played in my life”.

He continued: “That 138 is probably one of the best shots I’ve ever seen in my career, let alone [to win] the title. If I didn’t hit that, we go off to the break and Gezzy feels that he’s back in the game.

“I couldn’t have picked a better ending for my first major title. I think a lot of people wrote me off tonight, they thought Gezzy would steamroll me, but I’ve got a bit of bottle about me, I have got the ability to play well.

“As much as I played well, that was a great final and I think Gezzy played his part there. He was a massive part of such a great game and credit goes to him.”

En route to the final, Price got the competition underway with a first round 2-0 win over Danny Noppert, before a 3-0 second round win over Poland’s Krzysztof Ratajski.

Price then beat Germany’s Martin Schindler 3-0 in the quarter-finals before beating reigning world champion Michael Smith 4-2 in the semi-finals.