Gian van Veen may have played his last Development Tour tournament

This weekend the next four tournaments of the PDC Development Tour 2024 will be played. The Development Tour ranking is currently led by Gian van Veen, but the Dutchman will be missing this weekend in Wigan.

In fact, Van Veen may not play any Development Tour tournaments at all for the time being due to PDC rules. The upcoming Development Tour tournament weekend coincides with the European Darts Open in Leverkusen, where Van Veen is active. 'GVV The Giant' is among the top-16 seeded players at that tournament, so he will not play his first match until Saturday.

The subsequent tournament weekend of the Development Tour is from July 26 to 28. However, there is a chance that Van Veen will no longer be eligible to play on the Development Tour. The Development Tour is open to youth players aged 16 to 23. In terms of age, 22-year-old Van Veen is still eligible to play, but his ranking on the PDC Order of Merit is bothering him. The PDC prohibits players in the top-32 of the world ranking list from participating in Development Tour tournaments.

Van Veen is currently 33rd on the PDC Order of Merit and his gap to number 32 Ricardo Pietreczko is 5250 pounds. In the coming weeks the darts player from Poederoijen will participate in a Euro Tour tournament, two Players Championship tournaments and the World Matchplay, while in all these tournaments Van Veen does not have to defend any prize money on the world ranking list. Certainly with a good result at the World Matchplay, Van Veen will make his debut in the global top-32, which will exclude him from the Development Tour.

In that case, Van Veen will still be allowed to participate in the PDC World Youth Championship later this season. The same already applies to Luke Littler, who has been barred from participating in the Development Tour all year because of his position in the world rankings.