Gian van Veen breaks silence on Luke Littler’s actions after livid Premier League conflict
Gian van Veen has spoken out about the bust-up he had on stage with Luke Littler during a dramatic clash during Premier League Darts in Manchester
Gian van Veen was furious at Luke Littler(Image: Sky Sports)
Gian van Veen has slammed Luke Littler’s actions after a furious Premier League Darts bust-up in Manchester.
Van Veen had raced into a 4-1 lead, but found himself pegged back to 5-5 in a dramatic quarter-final. And tensiosn boiled over with both players on a finish – leading to some furious actions by Littler towards the Dutchman.
And speaking to Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, Van Veen opened up on what was said on stage: “I’m on 90 and miss double 15 on the inside, and then I see him cheering towards the crowd. I don’t think that’s normal.
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“And then he makes that crying gesture too…He is a great darts player, but today he shows that he is not a good loser.
“Cheering over an opponent’s miss really annoys me. So that’s why I gave him an angry look. That he then misses three darts at a double, that’s his problem.”
It was Van Veen’s first week back in the Premier League after having kidney stones removed, and he added: “The last few weeks have been very tough.
“And to beat Luke Littler now feels really good. The way it happened, that doesn’t really matter to me.”
Speaking on the incident Wayne Mardle told Sky Sports: “I know exactly what happened. Gian van Veen went inside on D15 and Luke was happy about that so kind of gave it the Simon Whitlock ‘well done’.
“You shouldn’t do that and as he has done that, Gian has turned around thinking ‘why did you do that’. I can lip read but I won’t repeat what Luke said as I don’t want to hand in my notice.
“You have got to say that Gian handled it better.”
Fans were furious at Littler, and they vented on social media: “Of all people, he tries picking out Gian van Veen, the most innocent and respectful man on tour, what an absolute t***** Luke Littler is.”
“Littler hasn’t covered himself in any glory at all there, behaved like a complete muppet,” a second admitted. While a third shared: “Littler pathetic there, get a grip…”
And another added: “Littler has made himself look like a right mug just now.”
