Luke Humphries faces 71-year-old Paul Lim in a rematch for the ages on Monday night, grateful for the crushing defeat which turned out to be the best 'win' of his career. When Cool Hand Luke was humbled by darts' elder statesman in the first round behind closed doors at Alexandra Palace five years ago, it forced him into a wholesale audit of his lifestyle.

Just three months after his surrender of a two-set lead to Singapore legend Lim, then 66, Humphries announced his new fitness and diet regime by reaching the UK Open final - and he has never looked back. Eight major TV titles in 18 months would soon follow and before his sequel with Lim in the World Darts Championship second round, he gave a brutally honest assessment of the night he reached rock bottom.

Humphries, who lost four stone in his health kick, said: "When I looked in the mirror I didn't like the way I looked, I didn't like the way I felt, I didn't like the way I was feeling tired all the time.

"When you're overweight, you feel tired a lot. There's a lot of things I didn't like about myself but I changed it all and put it right. It gave me more confidence in myself, not just as a player but as a person as well.

"That's what definitely helped me become the player I am today. Sitting here now, I think I won that night, to be honest. It gives you a little bit of a kick up the backside that sometimes you do need in life.

"Sometimes a loss like that in any sport can help you in the long run. It made me realise that I wasn't at the perfect level that I know I could have been at.

"I lost the weight because I knew that, after being two sets up, I started to get a little bit jaded, a little bit tired and it cost me. I just never looked back from that moment.

"At least I did everything I could to be the best version of myself, so it was a blessing in disguise. Obviously three months later, I'd lost about four stone and I was in a major final.

"I speak to Paul about it and kind of thanked him for winning that game. t helped my career, I'm a really big fan of him and he's a really big fan of me as well."

Humphries, 41 years younger than his opponent, won't be taking Lim lightly after the oldest flinger in town stunned Jeffrey de Graaf in the first round.

He knows sentiment will be on the side of the oldest player ever to win a match at the World Darts Championship, adding: "Paul's a warrior, a legend, and I don't think I'll ever see another 70-plus-year-old that will ever be as good as him.

"The crowd's going to be on his side, but of course I've experienced that many, many times. In the the World Championship final against Luke Littler in 2024, the whole crowd was against me and I managed to put in one of my best performances ever."