Luke Humphries’ battle for kind continued with a last-16 exit on the Participant Championship 9 in Wigan as Chris Dobey romped to his second title of 2026.
4 days on from a quarter-final defeat to Jonny Clayton in Brighton that left his hopes of reaching the Premier League finals in jeopardy, Humphries was unable to muster a response in a 6-4 defeat to Andrew Gilding.
Gilding went on to beat Beau Greaves 6-3 after the 22-year-old registered victories over Raymond van Barneveld and Premier League chief Clayton to turn out to be the primary girl in PDC historical past to achieve a ProTour quarter-final.
Gilding’s run got here to an finish with a 7-1 semi-final defeat to eventual winner Dobey, who thrashed Luke Woodhouse 6-1 within the last-16 and Richard Veenstra 6-3 in quarter-finals earlier than overcoming Justin Hood 8-4 within the remaining to land the £15,000 prize.
Dobey constantly produced ton-plus averages on his option to the ultimate, the place a 105.28 common was sufficient to see off a spirited problem from Hood, who averaged 102.91 himself.
Chris Dobey clinched his tenth Gamers Championship title in Wigan [Taylor Lanning/PDC]
“The way I’ve been playing throughout the year, I’m hoping to pick up more titles,” mentioned Dobey. “It is laborious simply to win certainly one of these, so to win ten is a good feeling.
“He put up a very good battle with some nice pictures at essential instances, however I performed some great things all day, and I am delighted with one other win.
“I just want to start doing it on TV and picking up some European Tour titles. I know I can do it, it’s just about being consistent.”
Wigan witnessed a nine-darter, with Thomas Pretty producing an ideal leg of darts in his spherical three defeat to Woodhouse.
2026 Gamers Championship 9 – outcomes
Final 16
Tom Bissell 6-4 Krzysztof Ratajski
Connor Scutt 6-3 Steve Lennon
Tom Sykes 6-3 Martijn Dragt
Justin Hood 6-3 Mensur Suljovic
Beau Greaves 6-4 Joe Hunt
Andrew Gilding 6-4 Luke Humphries
Chris Dobey 6-1 Luke Woodhouse
Richard Veenstra 6-5 Kevin Doets
Quarter-finals
Connor Scutt 6-4 Tom Bissell
Justin Hood 6-0 Tom Sykes
Andrew Gilding 6-3 Beau Greaves
Chris Dobey 6-3 Richard Veenstra
Semi-finals
Justin Hood 7-3 Connor Scutt
Chris Dobey 7-1 Andrew Gilding
Remaining
Chris Dobey 8-4 Justin Hood
Who will win this yr’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will probably be defending his title and you may watch the motion each single Thursday till Could on Sky Sports activities. Stream darts and extra prime sport with NOW.
