Dream came true for young Dutchman Van Veen: This experience on the Euro Tour makes me want more'

In the middle of this month, Gian van Veen played at the German Darts Championship. For the 19-year-old Dutchman, it was his debut in front of the cameras.

For Van Veen, it was not easy to be there; due to his body growth, he had trouble reaching his best level for a couple of years. "I noticed that it became a lot harder. The hand-eye coordination changed, things just didn't go the way I wanted. I struggled with that for a while", Van Veen told Bommelerwaardgids.

Van Veen, who works in a cinema in everyday life, was unable to go to work for a while due to the lockdown and took advantage of that to practice really hard and participate in online tournaments during that period. "People knew me as someone who could play darts well, but never showed it in tournaments. During the online tournaments I succeeded. I got so much self-confidence from those and that paid off in the 'regular' tournaments."

That resulted in qualification for the German Darts Championship, a tournament of the PDC Euro Tour. "I've been following the Euro Tour for years, so I knew what to expect; cameras on you and about 1300 spectators in the room. When I started playing darts, that was my dream."

In the first round of that tournament, Van Veen took on his compatriot Vincent van der Voort, a match he lost 6-2.

"On the one hand you are happy because it is a familiar name, also to people who are less interested in the sport, but on the other hand you want to win. I didn't think I had a chance, but I knew it was going to be tough. In the end, it was. I enjoyed it very much though. I expected to be very nervous, but it wasn't that bad. This experience certainly leaves me wanting more.