Luke Littler finally breaks silence on heated Gian van Veen incident with his version of events

Luke Littler wants to set the record straight about his on-stage fallout with Gian van Veen.

Earlier this month, Littler was involved in a heated row with Van Veen, who later accused the world number one of being "out of order" on night nine of the Premier League in Manchester.

With the score tied at 5-5, Van Veen narrowly missed his first attempt at double 15 to win the match. Moments later, he looked towards the crowd, but was clearly upset after seeing Littler's reaction.

Speaking about the incident in his post-match interview, Van Veen gave his side of the story.

"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," the Dutchman said. "He also makes that crying gesture. He’s a fantastic darts player, but today he showed he’s not a good loser."

Van Veen accused his opponent of celebrating his missed double, but in a new interview with YouTube channel Online Darts, Littler has strongly dismissed those suggestions.

Van Veen and Littler were involved in a heated bust-up in Manchester. Image credit: Getty

Luke Littler breaks his silence on Gian van Veen incident

In short, Littler claims he was performing "a little fist bump" towards his girlfriend Faith and her father rather than celebrating Van Veen's miss.

Giving his version of events, the teenager began: "Well, from my point of view, I’m looking up at the TV and just thinking in my head, he’s not going to miss. Even if he gets a shot at the bull, Gian’s one of the best bull hitters in the game.

"But then, when he came inside for double 15, I looked up, had a drink of my water, and did a little fist bump towards Faith (his girlfriend) and her dad.

"That’s when the fans on that side started – they were all screaming – so I was like, 'Come on' to them, and then the whole arena got involved.

"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 just step back, look at the floor, and then throw his last dart. Instead, he’s staring at me.

"Apparently, he said he caught me (celebrating his miss). But that’s a load of… nothing. I didn’t do it to him. I did it to Faith and her dad, and to the whole crowd. There’s no need for him to be staring when he’s still got a dart left to throw to set up."

Littler also admitted to calling Van Veen a "crybaby" following the incident.

"What other people didn’t see was that, as I've walked back around, he put his darts down on the table. No one sees that, so hopefully this gets out to people. He's the one who was not doing his job of being respectful," said Littler.

"I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone put their darts down in front of my face. I come inside and called him a crybaby because there was no need for it. When he won, I picked up my darts and said, 'Well done, you got the win.'"

A week after the incident, Littler produced his worst-ever televised average (83.94) in Brighton as he suffered a 6-4 defeat to Stephen Bunting.

Speaking after the setback against Bunting, Littler admitted he "didn't want to be there".

"I knew it was pretty bad even when I got on stage I didn't want to be there. I just couldn't be bothered," he said.

"I think I only had about 18 hours at home. I didn't get much time to practise. Obviously I practised before the game but it didn't go to plan."