Gian van Veen has spoken out after becoming embroiled in a spat with Luke Littler after beating the world number one 6–5 in the Premier League quarter-finals in Manchester.
On Thursday (2 April), Gerwyn Price won night nine of the 2026 Premier League, while Littler crashed out against Van Veen, who would later reach the final before falling to a 6–2 defeat against the Welshman.
Despite still sitting at the top of the standings with 21 points, Littler was not best pleased during his quarter-final and even became embroiled in a heated confrontation with Van Veen.
After the Dutchman failed to land double 15 in the final leg, Littler turned and celebrated with the crowd in Manchester before gesturing aggressively towards him, before he too missed two match darts. The 19-year-old then performed a ‘crybaby’ gesture towards the crowd before his opponent hit double six to secure victory.
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Despite the ill feeling between the pair, they did still shake hands at the end of the match.
After the clash, Van Veen offered his thoughts on the exchange during an interview with Sky Sports, with the 23-year-old branding Littler’s behaviour “out of order”.
"I'm on 90, I miss double 15 on the inside, and then I see him celebrating towards the crowd. I don't think that's normal," Van Veen said.
“And then he also makes that crying gesture.
"He's a fantastic darts player, but today he showed he's not a good loser. Celebrating a miss from your opponent, that really annoys me.
"That's why I gave him a look. The fact he then misses three darts at a double, that's his problem.
"He was celebrating me missing double 15. That's out of order. I was fuming about that and he missed three darts at double seven.
"Then he looked at me like I was the problem. He is probably fuming.
"That's my perspective. His perspective is probably different.
"I love Luke to bits. All the attention he has brought to the sport is phenomenal, but today was my day."
Littler has yet to speak out on the incident, although he did repost a graphic with Van Veen’s quotes on Instagram with several laughing emojis over it.
Night 10 of the Premier League will take place in Brighton on 9 April.
Topics: Darts, Luke Littler
Luke Davies