Gian van Veen's stunning win over Luke Humphries at the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship has created a nightmare scenario for one player.
On Thursday, the latest edition of the PDC World Darts Championship continued at the Alexandra Palace in London.
In the afternoon session, Ryan Searle and Gary Anderson sealed passage to the last four by beating Jonny Clayton and Justin Hood respectively.
On Thursday night, defending champion Luke Littler breezed past Kryzsztof Ratajski before Van Veen produced a masterclass to dump out 2024 winner Humphries.
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Van Veen, 23, came into the tournament as the third favourite and showed his qualities as he thrashed Humphries 5-1.
Looking ahead, Van Veen will now take on Anderson, with Littler facing Searle. Both ties will be played on Friday night.
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Van Veen's victory over Humphries has now created a nightmare scenario for Clayton, after his defeat in the quarter finals.
Heading into the tournament, Clayton was ranked fifth in the PDC Order of Merit.
The Welshman then climbed to fourth place after beating Andreas Harryson last week.
Being in the top four automatically seals a place in the Premier League, which will take place over 17 weeks in 2026.
The other four places are handed out by the PDC via invitations.
However, Van Veen's victory on Thursday night meant he has now climbed into the top four, dumping Clayton out of automatic qualification for the Premier League.
'The Ferret' will now have to rely on the PDC to gain passage to the Premier League.
Speaking after winning against Humphries, Van Veen said: "You see this smile? It won't go away in the next 24 hours! I'm so over the moon. I felt really, really good today, I saw on the screen I had a 105 average and that sums up how I felt. Indescribable."
When asked about the Premier League, the Dutchman replied: "I should be in now! I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow night - playing my idol Gary Anderson.
"I just want to enjoy playing on this stage, I played him at the Grand Slam last year and it was exciting, 16-14 in the end, so hopefully it'll be an exciting game tomorrow."
Topics: Darts, World Darts Championship, Luke Humphries
Marcus Chan