Luke Littler has spoken out after his on-stage confrontation with Gian van Veen in the Premier League as he admitted that his girlfriend was at the centre of the awkward clash
Luke Littler has revealed that a fist pump aimed at his girlfriend sparked the fiery on-stage clash between him and Gian van Veen earlier this month. The two darting sensations went head-to-head in a quarter-final match at Manchester’s Premier League event on April 2, with Van Veen racing to a 4-1 lead.
Behind but determined not to give up in front of his home crowd, the ‘Nuke’ battled back to draw level at 5-5, setting up a dramatic deciding leg. Requiring 134 to finish, Littler landed two treble 20s but missed the double seven that would have clinched victory.
Van Veen then stepped up to the line with 90 left, nailing his treble but catching the inner board on 15 to squander his own chance of glory. Despite a largely cordial affair until that point, Van Veen appeared irritated by Littler’s reaction to his miss – glaring at the 19-year-old in disbelief.
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As he turned back towards the line, Littler threw his fist upward and tilted his head in exasperation while muttering something under his breath. Littler then got another chance to clinch the win but once more failed to find the double seven as an astonished crowd voiced their amazement.
As he returned to the table, Littler then made a ‘crybaby’ gesture at Van Veen, who was moaning about how the leg had developed before the Dutchman found the double six needed to wrap up the match. A livid Littler momentarily shook the 23-year-old’s hand before marching off the stage mumbling to himself, leaving Van Veen with a look of complete bewilderment plastered across his face.
Now, Littler has addressed what sparked the bizarre scenes in an interview with Online Darts, the two-time PDC World Champion said: “When he come inside the double 15, I looked up, had a drink of my water and then I done a little fist bump towards Faith and her dad. The fans started on that side – they were all screaming – so I was like that to them, ‘Come on.’
“And then the whole arena…but then there was no need for Gian to look back and stare at me. He’s still got a dart in hand, so really he should step back, look at the floor and then throw his last dart. He’s staring at me, and he’s caught me apparently [celebrating his miss]. That’s a load of nonsense.”
Littler also claimed that Van Veen put his darts down on the table afterwards, considerably prolonging the match. However, fans online weren’t persuaded by Littler’s account of events, staying furious about his conduct.
One wrote: “He’s seen the backlash and is now playing damage protection,” while a second added: “Would have been easier to say nothing.”
A third commented: “Taken him over a week to come up with that excuse,” while a fourth expressed their frustration: “Terrible, could just apologise and say he was wrong everyone would respect that. Just lying and taking zero accountability is not a great look.”